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Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canadian  Institute  for  Historical  Microreproductions  /  Institut  canadion  de  microreproductions  historiques 


Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notaa/Notat  tashniquaa  at  bibliographiquaa 


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original  copy  availabia  for  filming.  Faaturaa  of  this 
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which  may  eltar  any  of  tha  imagas  in  tha 
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tha  uauai  mathod  of  filming,  ara  chackad  balow. 


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Couverture  reataurte  at/ou  pelliculAe 


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Planches  et/ou  illustrations  en  couleur 


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mais,  lorsqua  cela  Atait  possible,  ces  pagea  n'ont 
pas  6t6  f  ilm^aa. 

Additional  commenta:/ 
Commentairaa  supplAmantairaa: 


L'Institut  a  microfilm^  le  meilleur  exer.ipiaira 
qu'il  lui  a  Ati  poasibia  de  se  procurer.  Lea  d^taiia 
de  cet  exemplaira  qui  aont  paut-Atre  uniques  du 
point  de  vue  bibliographique,  qui  peuvent  modifier 
una  image  reproduite,  ou  qui  peuvent  exiger  une 
modification  dans  la  m^thoda  normala  de  filmage 
aont  indiquto  ci-daaaoua. 


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Pages  damaged/ 
Pages  endommagtes 

Pages  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Pages  reataurtea  at/ou  pelliculAes 

Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxed/ 
Page?  dAcoiories,  tachat^ea  ou  piquAea 

Pages  detached/ 
Pages  d^tachtes 

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Only  edition  available/ 
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Pages  wholly  or  partially  obscured  by  errata 
slips,  tissues,  etc.,  have  been  ref limed  to 
ensure  the  best  possible  image/ 
Lea  pages  tota^ament  ou  partiellement 
obsuurcies  par  un  feuiliet  d'errata,  une  pelure, 
etc.,  ont  At*  filmtea  A  nouveaii  da  fapon  A 
obtenir  la  mailiaure  image  possible. 


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to  tha  ganarosity  of: 

Univariity  of  Alberta 
Edmonton 


L'axamplaira  filmi  fut  raproduit  grica  i  la 
gAnAiositA  da: 

Univertity  of  Albarta 
Edmonton 


Tha  imagaa  cppaaring  hara  ara  tha  batt  quality 
poanibla  conaidaring  tha  condition  and  iagibility 
of  tha  original  copy  and  in  Icaaping  with  tha 
filming  contract  apacificationa. 


Laa  imagaa  tuivantas  ont  AtA  raproduitas  avac  la 
plua  grand  soin.  compta  tanu  da  la  condition  at 
da  la  nattatA  da  I'axampiaira  film*,  at  an 
conformity  avac  laa  conditiona  du  contrat  da 
flimaga. 


Original  copiaa  in  printad  papar  eovais  ara  fiimad 
baginning  with  tha  front  eovar  and  anding  on 
tha  last  paga  with  a  printad  or  illuatratad  impraa- 
•ion,  or  tha  bacic  covar  whan  appropriata.  All 
othar  original  copiaa  mrm  fiimad  baginning  on  tha 
firat  paga  wHh  a  printad  or  illuatratad  impraa- 
aion.  and  anding  on  tha  laat  paga  with  a  printad 
or  illuatratad  impraaaion. 


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shall  contain  tha  aymbol  -^  (maaning  "CON- 
TINUED"), or  tha  symbol  ▼  (maaning  "END"). 
whichavar  a^  "(laa. 

IMapa,  platas,  charts,  ate.,  may  ba  fiimad  at 
diffarant  raduction  ratioa.  Thoaa  too  iarga  to  ba 
antiraly  includad  in  ona  axpoaura  ara  fiimad 
bagin^iing  in  tha  uppar  laft  hand  comar,  laft  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  aa  many  framaa  aa 
raquirad.  Tha  following  diagrama  iiluatrata  tha 
mathcd: 


Laa  axamplairaa  originaux  dont  la  couvartura  an 
papiar  aat  ImprimAa  sont  fiimte  an  commandant 
par  la  pramiar  plat  at  9n  tarminant  soit  par  la 
dwni^m  paga  qui  comporta  una  amprainta 
d'impraasion  ou  d'iliustration,  soit  par  la  sacond 
plat,  aalon  la  caa.  Toua  las  autras  axamplairaa 
originaux  sont  fiimAs  an  commandant  par  la 
pramiAra  paga  qui  comporta  una  amprainta 
d'impraaaion  ou  d'illuatration  at  an  tarminant  par 
la  damlAra  paga  qui  comporta  una  talla 
amprainta. 

Un  daa  symbolas  suivants  apparattra  sur  la 
darnlAra  imaga  da  chaqua  microflcha.  salon  la 
cas:  la  symbols  — »>  signifia  "A  SUIVRE".  la 
symbols  ▼  signifia  "FIN". 

Laa  cartaa.  planchaa,  tablaaux,  ate.  pauvant  Atra 
filmia  A  daa  taux  da  reduction  diff*rants. 
Lorsqua  la  documant  ast  trop  grand  pour  Atra 
raproduit  an  un  saul  cliche,  il  aat  film*  A  partir 
da  I'angia  supAriaur  gaucha.  da  gaucha  k  droita. 
at  da  haut  an  baa.  m*  pranant  la  nombra 
d'imagas  nAcaaaaira.  Las  diagrammas  suivants 
illustrant  la  mithoda. 


1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

THE 


LAND  OF  THE  CLIFF-DWELLERS 


( 


.,     -t 


f,    .  ,-' 


u 


THE 


Land  of  the  Cliff-Dwellers 


BY 


FREDERICK  H.  CHAPIN 

AUTHOR  OF   "MOUNTAINEERING   IN   COLORADO" 


BOSTON 

APPALACHIAN   MOUNTAIN   CLUB 

W.  B.  CLARKE  AND  COMPANY 

340  Washington  Street 

1892 


Copyright,  180S, 
By  Frederick  Hastings  Chapin. 


i 


John  Wilson  and  Son,  Camdridgb. 


LIBRARY 
UNIVERSITY  OF  ALBERTA 


■  \ 


PREFACE. 


FOR  a  number  6f  years  I  have  passed  my  va- 
cations in  rambling  in  the  high  llockies, 
and  as  a  variation  from  mountain-climbing  have 
spent  some  time  investigating  the  antiquities  of 
Colorado.  It  is  a  description  of  ruins  and  relics 
which  occupies  an  important  part  of  this  work, 
though  the  mountains  have  not  been  neglected. 

With  few  exceptions,  the  pictures  are  copies 
from  my  own  negatives.  For  four  very  inter- 
esting views  of  pueblos  I  am  indebted  to  the 
Bureau  of  Ethnology,  and  for  a  view  in  Socorro, 
and  of  a  ruined  adobe  church,  to  Dr.  F.  M.  End- 
lich,  of  Colorado.  The  reproductions  were  made 
by  the  Art  Publishing  Company  of  Boston.  The 
general  maps  are  based  upon  Government  publi- 
cations, the  details  of  which  I  have  filled  in  from 
various  authorities.  The  map  of  the  Mesa  Verde 
is  based  upon  that  published  in  Hayden's  Re- 
ports, and  upon  the  beautiful  panoramic  views  of 


2194063 


u 


PREFACE. 


Mr.  William  H.  Holmes.  I  have  added  a  num- 
V)er  of  caflons  not  placed  upon  the  original  map, 
and  have  located  a  number  of  ruins.  The  map 
has  been  re-drawn  by  Mr.  J.  J.  Nairn  in  a  man- 
ner to  show  the  plateaus  and  caflons  in  relief. 

Though  I  have  had  occasion  to  quote  from  the 
work  of  Ternaux-Compans,  the  repository  for  the 
published  documents  of  the  early  Spanish  ex- 
plorers, in  the  main  I  have  preferred  to  follow 
the  accounts  given  in  the  recent  works  of  A.  F. 
Bandelier,  H.  H.  Bancroft,  and  the  "  Narrative 
and  Critical  History  of  America,"  edited  by  Jus- 
tin Winsor,  for  the  reason  that  these  writers 
have  had  the  advantage  of  consulting  copies  of 
manuscripts  and  other  printed  documents,  and 
have  been  able  to  correct  errors  in  the  French 
translations.  I  am  under  especial  obligations  to 
the  works  of  A.  F.  Bandelier.  This  well-known 
authority,  under  the  auspices  of  the  Archaeolo- 
gical Institute  of  America,  has  investigated  the 
ruins  of  the  Southwest  and  made  a  study  of  the 
existing  tribes.  Well  equipped  with  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  Spanish  historical  documents,  he  has 
been  able  to  give  us  a  clear  picture  of  explora- 
tions as  related  by  the  early  chroniclers.  His 
works  are  published  in  the  papers  of  the  Archae- 
ological Institute  of  America,  American  Series, 


.■•■\ 


prefacf:. 


111 


of  which  Parts   I..   IT..  Ilf.,  and  V.  have  been 
issued.     Of  the  works  of  Hubert  Howe  Bancroft 
—  likewise  gratefully  acknowledged  as  the  source 
of  much  valua])le  information  —  the  volumes  prin- 
cipally consulted  are  vols,  i.-v.,  «  Native  Races  ; " 
vols.  xiv..  XV..  <'The   North    Mexican   States;'" 
vol.   xvii.,   "Arizona   and    New    Mexico;"   vol. 
XXV.,  "Nevada,  Colorado,  and   Wyoming;"  and 
vols,  xxvii.  and  xxviii. 


^ll 


CONTENTS. 


List  of  Illustrations ix 

CHAPTER  PAOE 

I.  Land  op  the  Cliff-Dwellers 11 

II.  Spanish  Exploration 17 

III.  Spanish  Occupancy 27 

IV.  Anglo-American  Exploration 34 

V.  Wild  Tribes 47 

VL  Pueblo  Tribes 53 

YII.  Explorations  in  the  San  Juan  Region     .  65 

VIII.  The  San  Juan  Mountains 78 

IX.  Mancos  Valley    .    ,    . 97 

X.  ThE  Ute  Indians 107 

XI.  Mangos  Canon 120 

XII.  Acowitz  Canon     . ,  127 

XIIL  Cliff  Canon 139 

XIV.  Navajo  Canon      , 146 

XV.  i^RCH^OLOGICAL  NoTES 156 

XVI.  The  Mesa  Verde 174 

INDEX 183 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Cliff-Palace 

Cliff  Canon.     .     .     .     . 
In  a  Colorado  Cafion .     .     . 
Ute  Indians      ... 

Potosi  Peak 

Mount  Snaefell      .... 
Mesa  Verde,  from  Mancos  . 
Ute  "  Wickyups  "... 
Sandal  Cliff-House     . 
Cliff-Palace      .    .    . 
Loop-Hole  Port    .... 
Mesa  Verde 

Coronado's  Route  (Map)  . 
Stone  Steps,  Navajo  Cafion 
Terraced  Houses,  Zufii  .     . 

Spanish  Bayonet 

Ruins  of  Adobe  Mission  Church 


frontispiece 

Facing  page 

.  .  11 

.  .  27 

.  .  47 

.  .  65 

.  .  78 

•  .  97 

.  .  107 

.  .  120 

.  .  139 

.  .  146 

.  .  174 


12 
14 
17 
20 
24 


Viii  LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Facing  pag» 

A  Moqui  Village 28 

Sheep  on  the  Plums 30 

Zuni 34 

Pueblo  Woman  and  Adobe  House 41 

In  Navajo  Cafion 50 

A  New  Mexican  Pueblo 53 

Kuiu  in  Navajo  Canon 60 

San  Juan  lliver  and  Mountains  (Map) 66 

PotosiPeak 70 

In  Animas  Caiiou 72 

Uncompahgi'e  Peak 82 

View  from  Uncompahgre  Peak 84 

Cabin  in  the  San  Juan  Mountains 86 

Mount  Snaefell 88 

An  Arete  on  Mount  Snaefell 92 

La  Plata  Mountains,  from  Mancos 98 

Valley  Ruins 102 

Mancos  Cafion 104 

Tower  in  Mancos  Cafion 108 

Loop-Hole  ClifiF  House 110 

Cinching  Pack  ...         114 

Plan  of  First  Cliff  Dwelling 122 

Canons  of  the  Mancos  River  (Map)      .....  123 

Estufa,  Sandal  Cliff-House 124 

Interior  of  Round  Room     ....         125 

View  in  Acowitz  Canon 127 


\ 


LIST   OF  ILLUSTRATIONS.  IX 

Facing  page 

J'ortificatiou,  Acowitz  Cafion 128 

Au  Upper  Ledge,  Acowitz  Canou 130 

A  Primitive  Griudstoue 135 

Plan  of  Part  of  Cliff  House 136 

An  Impregnable  Fort 137 

Cliff- Palace,  from  opposite  side  of  Cailon    .    .     .     .     :  140 

luterior  of  Roui  i  Room 142 

Mural  Decoration 143 

Cliff  Palace,  North  End 144 

Projecting  Timbers,  Navajo  Canon 148 

Stone  Pier 150 

Plastered  and  Painted  Wall 152 

Corner  Fireplace 154 

Fastened  Door 155 

Spruce-Tree  in  Navajo  Canon 156 

Ruin  in  Navajo  Canon 158 

Fragments  of  Painted  and  Corrugated  Pottery     .     .     .  160 

Indented  Jar,  Stone  Axe,  and  OUa 162 

Fragments  of  Painted  Ware 164 

Relics  from  Cliff-Dwellings 166 

Matting,  Basket  Work,  Sandal,  and  Wooden  Needles  .  168 

In  Acowitz  Cafion 170 

Our  "Outfit" 176 

Tower  in  Clitf.Palace 180 


THE 


LAND   OF  THE  CLIFF-DWELLERS. 


CHAPTER  I. 


THE  LAND   OF  THE   CLIFF-DWELLERS. 


BEYOND  the  southern  Rockies,  where  Utah, 
Arizona,  and  New  Mexico  border  upon 
Colorado's  frontier  lines,  is  a  strange  land,  in- 
habited by  strange  people,  and  containing  monu- 
ments and  relics  of  yet  stranger  tribes  of  an 
unknown  antiquity. 

From  the  melting  snows  of  lofty  sierras,  rivers 
far  larger  than  those  of  the  present  day  once  ran 
to  the  south  and  west,  cutting  out  in  the  sand- 
stone plateau  a  network  of  canons  that  gives  to 
the  landscape  an  appearance  resembling  the  face 
of  the  moon.  Among  some  of  these  deep  cuts 
and  weird  valleys  dwell  remnants  of  wild  tribes 
which  once  hunted  among  the  mountains  to  the 


12 


THE  LAND  OF  TUE  CLIFF-DWELLERS. 


I 


north  and  east.  All  along  the  banks  of  the  San 
Juan  Kiver  and  some  of  its  tributaries  are  gathered 
bands  of  the  Ute  Indians,  who,  in  more  remote  dis- 
tricts, far  from  the  agencies  of  the  reservation,  still 
live  a  primitive  life.  Over  the  Colorado  line  i'l 
Arizona  is  the  reservation  of  the  Navajos,  and  to 
the  south  and  west  of  these  are  the  pueblos  of 
the  Zunis,  Moquis,  and  other  tribes,  These  latter 
live  in  communistic  towns  built  of  stone  and 
adobe,  and  some  of  them,  at  least,  are  supposed 
CO  be  the  descendants  of  the  prehistoric  race, — 
a  once  great  people,  the  ruins  of  whose  edifices 
are  found  here  upon  cliff  and  in  valley  through- 
out a  broad  zone.  In  fact,  this  field  of  ruins 
extends  from  the  Sierra  Nevada  range  on  the 
west  to  Texas  on  the  east,  the  existing  pueblo 
towns  occupying  but  a  small  portion  of  this  great 
territory.  These,  as  well  as  the  ruins  of  similar 
recently  abandoned  adobe  and  rubble  buildings 
in  the  valleys  and  on  the  mesas,  are  very  inter- 
esting ;  yet  remains  of  cliff-dwellings  among  the 
canons  are  the  prehistoric  factors  which  are  by 
far  more  fascinating.^ 

1  In  using  the  terra  "prehistoric"  in  these  pages,  I  am  not 
implying  any  great  age  to  the  relics  and  ruins,  but  maintain 
that  they  antedate  the  coming  of  the  Spaniards,  that  there 
are  no  written  records  in  regard  to  them,  and  that  traditions 
are  very  meagre.  .^  , 


i; 


rl 


CO  RON  ADC'S  I 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  OLIFF-DWELLERS.  13 

Imagine  a  lone  traveller,  having  crossed  the 
great  Continental  Divide,  pursuing  his  way  west- 
ward over  the  lofty  plain.    At  his  back  are  the 
mighty  crests  of  the  San  Juan  Mountains.    Rising 
here  and  there  from  the  dreary  level  are  strange, 
weird  volcanic  rocks,  alone  relieving  the  seem- 
ingly endless  area  of  desert.     As  he  crosses  feeble 
watercourses,  rivulets  that  are  making  their  way 
toward  the  great  Colorado  lliver  to  mingle  at  last 
with  the  gentle  surf  of  the  Pacific,  he  may  see  an 
occasional  ranch,  with   horses  or  cattle  feeding 
near  the  water.     On  drier  pasture  he  may  find 
sheep  feeding  on  the  scant  herbage,  guarded  by 
Navajo   herders.      These,  and   perhaps  a   jack- 
rabbit  or  a  prairie-dog  colony,  are  all   that  he 
will  see  to  relieve  the  treeless  country  and  the 
awful  stillness  and  parchedness  of  the  sage-brush 
plain.     If  he  is  ignorant  of  the  existence  of  the 
former  populations,  our  traveller  may  imagine  for 
the  moment  that  this  land  has  always  been  given 
over  to  the  antelope,  the  coyote,  the  prairie-dog, 
and  the  lizard.     But  as  he  meditates,  his  horse's 
hoofs  clink  among  broken  pottery,  and,  if  he  will 
but  bend  from  his  saddle,  he  will  see  in  profusion 
the  fragments  of   the   ware   of  the   prehistoric 
tribes,  specimens  of  varied  form,  both  of  indented 
ware  and  of  quaint  painted  design.    As  he  threads 


14 


THE  LA.XD   OF  THE  CLIFF-DWELLERS. 


\ 


his  way  over  the  plain,  he  will  note  here  and  there 
the  burial-mounds  and  the  irrigating  works  of  a 
departed  people,  and  will  find  arrow-points  and 
other  relics  in  profusion.  As  he  wanders  through 
cafions  he  will  see,  now  upon  the  right,  and  again 
upon  the  left,  long  lines  of  steps  and  stairways 
leading  to  apparently  inaccessible  eyries  upon 
the  clififs  above.  Crowning  the  cliffs,  and  built 
upon  the  canon's  brink,  he  will  catch  sight  of 
picturesque  towers,  from  whose  v/alls  the  primi- 
tive sentinels  watched  and  guarded  the  ap- 
proaches to  peaceful  valleys  below.  Everywhere 
evidence  will  be  given  that  savage  warriors  once 
struggled  and  battled  for  the  possession  of  the 
land. 

Of  all  the  localities  where  ruins  of  cliff-dwell- 
ings are  found,  it  is  in  southwestern  Colorado 
and  northern  New  Mexico  that  the  best-pre- 
served structures  are  to  be  met ;  and  to  circum- 
scribe the  limits  still  closer,  it  is  in  that  section 
of  Colorado  which  is  embraced  by  the  Mesa 
Verde,  a  plateau  through  which  Mancos  Canon 
has  cut  its  way,  that  the  grandest  as  well  as  the 
most  picturesquely  situated  ruins  have  been  dis- 
covered. This,  in  connection  with  the  fact  that 
this  land  of  canons  and  mesas  is  surrounded  on 
the  north  and  east  by  one  of  the  most  beautiful 


STONE    STEPS,     NAVAJO    CANON. 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  CLIFF-DWELLERS. 


15 


mountain  chains  in  the  world,  renders  the  country 
a  most  fascinating  field  for  the  explorer. 

It  is  proposed  in  this  volume  to  give  the  record 
of  two  summers'  personal  experience  amid  the 
scenes  once  familiar  to  the  eyes  of  the  Clifif- 
Dwellers.  Drawn  thither  both  by  a  love  for  the 
mountains  and  canons  and  by  an  amateur's 
interest  in  archaeology,  my  narrative  will  include 
the  twofold  experience  of  the  climber  and  the 
interested  seeker  for  new  archaeological  wonders. 
As  no  compact  volume  has  as  yet,  so  far  as  I  am 
aware,  presented  the  attractive  story  of  the  dis- 
covery and  development  of  this  novel  country,  I 
will  venture  to  preface  my  descriptions  with  a 
short  account  of  the  advent  of  the  Spaniards  in 
the  southwest,  of  their  occupancy,  and  then  later 
of  the  entrance  of  our  own  countrymen  upon  the 
scene,  together  with  some  discussion  of  the  wild 
tribes  and  pueblo  towns  as  found  by  the  early 
explorers,  or  as  observed  more  recently  by  visit- 
ing students  of  archaeology.  If  the  reader  thinks 
that  some  of  these  matters  have  little  connection 
with  the  story  of  the  vanished  people  and  their 
ruins  and  relics,  let  him  remember  that  the  early 
explorers  and  settlers  hovered  closely  about  the 
Land  of  the  Cliff-Dwellers.  Though  they  rarely 
penetrated  within  its  borders,  their  experiences 


16 


THE   LAND   OF  THE  CLIFF-DWELLERS. 


are  of  interest  as  increasing  our  knowledge  of  the 
country  and  its  inhabitants.  We  may  infer  that 
the  nomads  of  the  desert  plains,  mountain  val- 
leys, and  rugged  canons,  the  ancestors  of  those 
encountered  by  Pike  and  the  pioneers  of  the 
Santa  Fd  trail,  influenced  the  destinies  of  the  Clifl- 
Dwellers ;  while  some  of  the  dwellers  in  fixed 
habitations  are  possibly  the  direct  descendants 
of  the  Men  of  the  Clifif. 


\- 


\ 


if 


t  i 


D 
N 

■A 
u 

D 


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u 
u 
< 

a: 
w 

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I: 


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CHAPTER  II. 


■v'< 


■A 
I 


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u 

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D 
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O 
< 

or 
u 

H 


SPANISH   EXPLORATION. 

ALAPtGE,  increasing,  and  interesting  litera- 
ture lias  grown  up  pertaining  to  the  geol- 
ogy, geography,  and  archaeology  of  the  Southwest. 
The  archaeology,  however,  bears  more  especially 
upon  tlie  inhabited  pueblos,  such  as  those  of  the 
Taos,  Moqui,  and  Zuiii  Indians, —  races  known 
in  early  times  to  the  Spaniards  through  rumors 
brought  to  the  ears  of  Nuno  do  Guzman  in  1530, 
when  he  was  at  the  head  of  afltiirs  in  Mexico.^ 

Before  this  date,  though  Cortez  and  his  fol- 
lowers had  heard  legends  of  Amazons  who  were 
supposed  to  dwell  to  the  north  of  Mexico,^  it 
does  not  appear  that  they  had  heard  of  the  semi- 
civilized  tribes  of  the  North,  and  it  was  an  Indian 
slave  of  Guzman's  who  first  gave  reports  that  im- 
pelled that  leader  to  undertake  an  expedition  to 


Si 


1  Narrative  and  Critical  History  of  America,  edited  by  Jnstin 
Winsor,  article  Early  Exploration  of  New  Mexico,  by  Henry  W. 
Haynes,  vol.  ii.  pp.  474  et  seq. 

*  Bandelier,  vol.  v.  pp.  1  and  2. 


■»*S 


18 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  CLIFF-DWELLERS. 


prove  the  truth  of  the  stories,  and  possibly  to  ex- 
tend his  domain.  Guzman  was  at  enmity  with 
Cortcz,  and  was  anxious  to  accomplish  some  great 
work  that  should  gain  him  favor  at  the  Spanish 
court.  Tejos,  the  Indian  slave,  whose  father  was 
a  trader  among  the  Indians,  stated  that  he  had 
accompanied  him,  and  seen  cities  equal  to  Mex- 
ico itself,  where  gold  and  silver  were  abundant. 
The  allurement  was  so  strong  that  Guzman  organ- 
ized an  expedition  to  explore  the  Far  North.  His 
force  amounted  to  four  hundred  Spaniards  and 
twenty  thousand  Indians  ^  On  account  of  the  dif- 
ficulties which  beset  their  path,  the  army  did  not 
reach  a  point  beyond  Colombo,  and  then  returned. 
Guzman  now  disappears  from  the  history  of  the 
Southwest ;  the  new  viceroy,  Antonio  de  Mcn- 
doza,  superseded  him  with  Vasquez  de  Coronado. 
Mendoza  was  a  man  of  great  sagacity  and  capa- 
city. He  was  anxious  to  extend  the  domain  of 
New  Spain  ;  and  now  came  news  through  a  chan- 
nel which  gave  another  impulse  to  Northern 
exploration.2  Antonio  Nunez  Cabeza  de  Vaca 
arrived  upon  the  scene,  and  his  name  blazed  out 
in  the  annals  of  the  Southwest.     He  was  with 

1  Winsor,  vol.  ii.  p.  472.     Bancroft,  voL  xv.  p.  28,  gives  the 
force  as  five  hundred  Spaniards  and  ten  thousand  allies 

2  Winsor,  vol.  ii.  p.  474. 


SPANISH   EXPLORATION. 


19 


Narvaez'  ill-fated  expedition,  most  of  whose  mem- 
bers were  lost  or  scattered  in  Florida  or  along 
the  northern  coast  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  After 
many  adventures  and  much  wandering,  he  found 
himself  west  of  the  Mississippi.  With  three 
companions,  Dorantes,  Maldonado,  and  a  negro 
named  Estevan,  he  made  his  way  westward  to 
the  Pacific  coast  His  route  lay  far  south  of  the 
pueblo  homes ;  but  in  some  part  of  his  journey 
rumors  reached  him  of  cities  to  the  north  either 
still  existing  or  in  ruins;  and,  on  reaching  the 
Spanish  settlements,  adventurers  there  were  in- 
cited to  further  efforts  to  explore  what  is  now 
known  as  New  Mexico.^ 

This  information  being  transmitted  to  Mendoza, 
he  communicated  the  same  to  Coronado,  who  in 
1539  organized  a  preliminary  expedition.  As 
guide  he  secured  the  services  of  Estevan,  the 
negro  who  had  been  one  of  Cabeza  de  Vaca's 
comrades.  The  Franciscan  monks,  eager  to  pro- 
pagate the  Catholic  faith,  sent  two  of  their  num- 
ber, Fray  Marcos  and  Fray  Honoratos.  These 
three  were  accompanied  by  some  natives  who  had 
followed  Cabeza  de  Vaca  to  Mexico.  It  is  stated 
that  the  small  party  were  thus  enabled  to  converse 
with  the  tribes  among  whom  they  were  to  dwell, 

1  Bandelier,  vol.  v.  pp.  25  ct  scq. 


20 


THE   LAND  OF  THE  CLIFF-DWELLEU8. 


and  througli  whose  country  tliuy  wisrc  to  pass. 
The  party  grew  in  numbers  as  it  advanced,  and 
after  many  adventures  the  negro  Estevan,  who 
proceeded  some  days  in  advance  of  the  monks, 
reached  the  famed  Seven  Cities  of  Cibohi.  Es- 
tevan was  murdered,  and  Fray  Marcos,  after 
viewing  the  pueblos  from  a  distance,  withdrew, 
and  returned  to  Compostello. 

From  Fray  Marcos'  report  we  have  our  first 
knowledge  of  the  New  Mexican  pueblos,  aiid  upon 
his  return  Coronado  organized  a  new  expedition, 
which  penetrated  into  New  Mexico,  and  finally, 
in  search  of  the  mythical  city  of  Quivira,  far  be- 
yond to  the  land  of  the  Pawnees  in  Kansas  and 
Nebraska.  The  prime  cause  of  this  invasion  was 
a  thirst  for  gold  and  riches,  which  the  stories  of 
the  Indian  Tejos  and  the  reports  of  Fray  Marcos 
(who,  however,  had  no  intention  of  fraud)  led 
them  to  believe  were  to  be  found  in  the  land  of 
the  Seven  Cities  of  Cibola.  These  treasure-seekers 
were  doomed  to  disappointment.^ 

Coronado's  army  found  things  entirely  different 
from  ^vhat  was  expected.    Where  populous  towns 

1  Winsor,  vol.  ii.  p.  475  et  seq.  For  an  interesting  study  of 
the  journey  of  Fray  Marcos,  see  Bandelier,  vol.  v.  chap.  iv.  Ac- 
cording to  this  authority,  the  priest  has  been  much  maligned, 
and  has  further  suffered  at  the  hands  of  his  translators. 


S 


pass, 
[,  and 
who 
onks, 
Es- 
after 
drew, 

first 
upon 
ition, 
lally, 
r  be- 

and 
I  was 
38  of 
ircos 

led 
of 

cers 

rent 
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ly  of 
Ac- 

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73 

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I 

> 
O 


SPANISH   EXPLORATION. 


21 


were  supposed  to  exist,  ruins  were  found,  and 
when  Cibola  was  reached,  the  disappointment  was 
still  greater.  The  natives  were  hostile,  and  it 
became  necessary  to  carry  the  pueblos  by  storm. 
This  was  soon  accomplished,  though  in  the  assault 
the  leader  nearly  lost  his  life.  The  Spaniards 
found  their  armor  of  service,  for  it  protected  them 
from  the  stones  which  were  hurled  down  upon 
them  from  the  terraced  buildings.  None  of  the 
Spaniards  were  killed,  though  some  were  wounded, 
and  they  lost  a  few  horses. 

The  Moqui  towns  were  explored  from  this 
point  by  Pedro  de  Tobar.  This  province  was  re- 
duced. Here  the  Spaniards  heard  of  the  Colorado 
Kiver,  and  Garcia  Lopez  de  Cardenas  was  sent  to 
explore  it.^  Melchior  Diaz  also  explored  the 
Colorado  River  nearer  to  its  source,  and  gave  it 
the  name  Rio  del  Tizon.  In  this  expedition  he 
lost  his  life.2 

Besides  Cibola  and  Tusayan,  Coronado's  forces 
visited  Tiguex,  Cicuye,  and  Acoma.  At  Tiguex, 
troubles  with  the  natives  resulted  in  a  hard 
fight.3 


1  Winsor,  vol.  ii.  pp.  480-484 ;  Bandelier,  vol.  v.  chap.  iv. 
pp.  106  et  seq. 

'^  Bancroft,  vol.  xvii.  p.  39.  -f 

'  Winsor,  pp.  490  e<  aej. 


22 


THE   LAND   OF  THE  CLIFF-DWELLERS. 


Coronado  did  not  linger  long  in  the  pueblo 
country,  for  rumors  reached  the  army  of  the  exist- 
ence of  a  city  called  Quivira,  which  lay  far  across 
the  plains  to  the  northeast ;  and  his  forces  took 
up  their  march  in  that  direction.  The  army  was 
under  the  guidance  of  a  lying  native  whom  the 
Spaniards,  from  his  resemblance  to  the  people  of 
the  Bosphorus,  called  *•'  the  Turk."  This  Indian 
claimed  to  be  a  native  of  a  country  a  thousand 
miles  to  the  eastward,  and  told  fabulous  stories 
of  Quivira  and  its  gold  and  silver.^  An  Indian 
named  Xabe  partially  corroborated  the  stories  of 
El  Turco;  but  another  Indian  guide,  'pete,  who 
accompanied  Coronado's  expedition,  pronounced 
"  the  Turk  "  a  falsifier.  The  adventurers  did  not 
place  much  reliance  upon  the  stories  of  Sopete, 
for  the  Querechos,  a  tribe  of  the  Apaches,  con- 
firmed the  statements  of  the  romancer.^ 

Coronado's  army  left  the  banks  of  the  Kio 
Grande  on  May  5,  1541.  For  days  and  days  the 
troops  marched  across  the  plains.  Wandering 
bands  of  Querechos  and  Teyas  were  met  wiiJi. 
These  people  lived  in  tents  of  skin,  and  ha  I  d 
the  buffalo  to  gain  subsistence.     In  the  middle  .z 

1  Bancroft,  vol.   xvii.  pp.   51,  and  Prince,  History  of  New 
Mexico,  p.  129. 

2  Bancroft,  vol.  xviL  p.  60. 


SPANISH  EXPLORATION. 


23 


June  the  main  army,  under  Arellanno,  was  left 
behind,  and  soon  returned  to  New  Mexico,  while 
Coronado,  with  some  threescore  selected  followers, 
pursued  the  onward  march.  Immense  herds  of 
buffalo  were  passed,  which  seemed  to  increase  in 
numbers  as  progress  was  made  inland.  The  army 
finally  reached  Quivira,  which  turned  out  to  be  a 
collection  of  Indian  villages  composed  of  huts  or 
wigwams  of  straw.  The  tribes  occupying  them 
are  supposed  to  have  been  the  Pawnees.*  Dis- 
comfited by  the  results  of  the  expedition,  Coro- 
nado returned  to  New  Mexico.  There  he  met 
with  an  accident,  which  soon  afterwards  caused 
him  to  return  to  New  Spain. 

Thus  we  have  an  account  of  an  expedition 
crossing  the  entire  Western  border,  and  skirting 
the  eastern  base  of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  This 
was  in  1541,  seventy-nine  years  before  the  Pilgrims 
landed  on  Plymouth  Rock,  and  a  few  years  before 
Cabrillo  pushed  his  way  up  the  California  coast 
to  latitude  44°  ,'^  For  a  period  of  a  century  and 
three  quarters  the  sources  of  information  of  this 
section  of  the  country  are  principally  Castaiieda's 
report  of  this  invasion.     Even  in  the  early  part  of 

1  Prince,  History  of  New  Mexico,  pp.  140  etc.;  Bancroft,  vol. 
xvii.  pp.  61  etc.;  Simpson's  Coronado's  March. 

2  Bancroft,  vol.  xxvii.;  Hist.  Northwest  Coast,  vol.  1.  p.  14. 


i 


i^  THE  LAND  OF  THE  CLIFF-DWELLERS. 

this  century,  European  cyclopfedists  have  noth- 
ing to  add  in  the  way  of  information  in  regard 
to  what  is  now  the  geographical  centre  of  the 
United  States.  Lengthy  articles  on  the  Pacific 
States  grace  their  pages,  yet  the  mighty  ranges  of 
the  central  Cordilleras  are  barely  mentioned  as 
the  Stony  Mountains.  The  chain  was  described 
as  a  prolongation  of  the  Andes,  and  the  desig- 
nation "  Stony  "  considered  inappropriate.  Ac- 
knowledging that  little  was  known,  the  writers 
stated  that  the  range  rose  in  northern  New  Mex- 
ico and  reached  the  Arctic  Ocean.  They  slurred 
Pike's  reports  and  belittled  the  value  of  his  work, 
because  his  expedition  was  scantily  supplied  with 
philosophical  instruments.  The  plains  at  the 
base  of  the  mountains  were  supposed  to  be  about 
thirty-five  hundred  feet  above  the  sea,  and  the 
peaks  supposed  to  rise  to  the  same  altitude  above 
the  sandstone  floor,  —  this,  upon  the  authority  of 
Humboldt,  who  guessed  that  the  altitude  was 
between  six  thousand  and  seven  thousand  feet 
above  sea-level.  He  conjectured  within  fifty  per 
centum  of  the  true  values.^ 

After  Coronado's  expedition,  two  Franciscan 
monks,  with  Chamuscado,  a  miner,  with  others, 
ventured  into  New  Mexico.     This  was  in  1581. 
1  Edinburgh  Encyclopaedia,  1832,  voL  xv.  p.  565. 


U^ 


3J 

G 

o 

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o 
o 

DO 

tn 


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O 
Z 

n 
X 
c 

n 


m 


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V 


x. 


\ 


>^ 


SPANISH   EXPLORATION. 


25 


Thev  visited  the  pueblo  districts,  where  the 
friars  remained.  They  died  as  martyrs  to  their 
faith. 

In  1582,  in  order  to  discover  the  fate  of  the 
missing  monks,  Espejo  organized  an  expedition  on 
his  own  account  to  explore  New  Mexico.  At  the 
pueblo  towns  he  received  information  of  the  pre- 
vious visit  of  Coronado.  At  Zuiii  (Cibola)  were 
found  Indians  who  had  accompanied  Coronado 
forty  years  previous.  Espejo  also  went  to  Moqui, 
and  visited  in  all  seventy-four  pueblos.  He  gave 
the  population  as  two  hundred  and  fifty  thou- 
sand, which  is  unquestionably  far  above  the 
true  number.  The  results  of  Espejo's  expedition, 
accompanied  as  he  was  by  but  fifteen  persons, 
were  of  as  much  importance  as  those  obtained 
by  Coronado  with  his  great  army.  ^ 

About  1595  we  have  partial  records  of  another 
Spanish  expedition.  Captain  Bonilla  was  sent 
against  the  Indians  of  the  plains ;  but  dazzled  by 
reports  of  wealth  among  the  northern  tribes,  he 
exceeded  his  instructions  and  took  his  way  toward 
the  Missouri.  The  Spanish  governor  of  Vizcaya 
(northern  Mexico)  sent  Cazorla  to  order  him 
home ;  but  the  buccaneer  heeded  not,  and  in  an 
altercation  with  a  subordinate  named  Humana, 
1  Bancroft,  vol.  xvii.  chap.  iv. 


26 


THE  LAND  OP  THE  CLIFF-DWELLERS. 


the  leader  was  killed,  and  the  victor  took  com- 
mand of  the  troop.  The  narrative  states  that  they 
crossed  a  broad  river  on  a  raft.  At  this  juncture 
three  Indians  who  had  accompanied  the  expedi- 
tion from  New  Mexico  deserted.  Only  one  of 
these  reached  the  settlements  again,  and  informed 
Oiiate,  the  governor,  of  the  affair.  While  the 
on-going  party  were  encamped  on  the  plains,  a 
large  force  of  Indians  set  fire  to  the  grass  and 
then  attacked  them,  destroying  all  hut  Alonzo 
Sanchez  and  a  half-breed  girl.  Afterwards  the 
natives  made  Sanchez  a  chief.  All  that  we  know 
of  this  doubtful  part  of  the  story  comes  from 
him.^ 

1  Bancroft,  vol.  xvii.  p.  108. 


c  com- 
it  they 
ncture 
xpedi- 
3ne  of 
ormed 
e  the 
ins,  a 
i  and 
-lonzo 
s  the 
know 
from 


i 


&^M&^m9Emm 

V         ■'       -^^               '  ''•   ->.       X            /^-                                                           •* ' 

t^l^                                                      ■                    .b  VivW    ' 

^''.K  <    j^lB^^ 

3???^**3i.:>- 

^^ 

^  ^p 

w 

IN    A   COLORADO   CANON. 


CHAPTER  III. 


SPANISH  OCCUPANCY. 


!|i 


DURING  the  closing  years  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  New  Mexico  was  actually  taken 
possession  of  by  the  Spaniards.  The  leader  was 
Juan  de  Ofiate.  His  wife  was  Isabel,  a  grand- 
daughter of  Cortez,  and  a  great-granddaughter  of 
Montezuma.  The  greatest  resistance  to  the  Span- 
iards was  at  Acoma,  where  the  battle  lasted  two 
days.  On  account  of  their  weapons  and  armor, 
the  loss  of  the  Spaniards  was  slight.  Many  of 
the  Indians  were  killed,  and  the  pueblo  was  fin- 
ally surrendered.^  The  natives  generally  were 
found  comparatively  friendly,  though  one  of  them, 

1  Bancroft,  vol.  xvii.  chapter  vii. ;  Oiiate's  Conquest,  pp.  128 
etseq.  Capt.  John  G.  Bourke,  in  his  delightful  book,  "  On  the 
Border  with  Crook,"  describes  a  suit  of  armor  in  his  possession 
which  was  undoubtedly  worn  by  a  Spanish  soldier  of  the  six- 
teenth century.  It  was  found  some  twenty  years  ago  near  the 
Rio  Grande.  The  skeleton  of  the  owner  was  in  the  armor. 
Bourke  considers  that  the  armor  belonged  to  a  soldier  of  Espejo's 
or  Ghate's  expedition.  Later  the  Spaniards  used  the  cotton- 
batting  covering  of  the  Aztecs,  which  was  light  in  weight,  and 
offered  sufficient  protection  against  arrows. 


"M 


28 


THE   LAND  OF  THE  CLIFF-DWELLERS. 


Zutucapan,  endeavored  to  raise  a  general  con- 
spiracy against  the  invaders. 

Colonists  now  thronged  in,  bringing  with  them 
cattle,  horses,  and  sheep,  and  in  1601  Onate  led 
an  expedition  across  the  prairie,  which  occupied 
tlie  season  from  June  until  October.  Travelling 
northeast,  he  reached  latitude  39°  or  40°.  Santa 
¥4  was  founded  at  some  time  between  the  years 
1605  and  1616.  It  is  stated  that  in  1617  the 
friars  had  built  eleven  churches  and  converted 
fourteen  thousand  natives.^ 

It  is  stated  that  when  the  Spaniards  became 
thoroughly  intrenched  in  their  i)osition,  many  of 
the  natives  were  forced  into  slavery  and  com- 
pelled to  work  in  mines.  Doubt  '  been  cast 
upon  the  assertion  that  mines  were  ..oiKcd  by  the 
aborigines  or  by  the  Spaniards  in  these  early  days. 
It  is  probable  that  the  aborigines  confined  them- 
selves largely  to  the  mining  of  free  metals.  Sil- 
ver was  obtained  near  the  surface  at  a  number  of 
mines.  Gold  and  copper  were  found  in  a  similar 
manner,  and  in  such  condition  that  they  could  be 
hammered  into  varied  forms.  But  there  is  some 
evidence  to  show  that  the  Spaniards,  after  con- 

*  It  is  sometimes  stated  that  Santa  F^  is  the  oldest  city  in 
the  United  States ;  but  this  is  not  so  :  compare  St.  Augustine, 
founded  about  1565. 


\ 


•'i^l 


SPANISH  OCCUPANCY. 


29 


quering  the  natives,  forced  them  to  work  mines, 
and  that  after  the  successful  rebellion  of  the  pue- 
blos, these  mines  were  closed.^  I  am  indebted 
to  my  friend  Dr.  F.  M.  Endlich,  formerly  connec- 
ted with  Hayden's  Survey,  and  at  present  mana- 
ger of  the  Yankee  Boy  Mining  Co.,  of  Ouray,  for 
the  following  interesting  bit  of  information : — 

In  the  neighborhood  of  Cook's  Peak  in  New 
Mexico  he  started  to  open  up  some  lead  mines. 
After  having  driven  a  tunnel  to  about  eighty  feet, 
he  sank  a  winze  from  the  same  to  a  depth  of 
about  twenty  feet!  One  day  the  winze,  and  the 
men  in  it,  suddenly  disappeared.  There  was  a 
commotion  in  camp,  and  upon  investigation  it 
was   found   that  the  bottom  of  the  winze  had 

1  I  am  aware  that  this  is  heresy,  —  an  opinion  that  is  in  conflict 
with  that  held  by  the  best  authorities ;  still,  so  many  American 
and  Mexican  tribes  used  and  wrought  the  precious  metals  that 
I  see  no  reason  why  the  Pueblo  Indians,  or  at  least  the  Spaniards 
of  that  day,  might  not  have  discovered  and  worked  mines,  if 
only  to  a  limited  extent.  See  foot-note,  p.  50,  in  regard  to 
the  Nnvajo  silver-workers.  Also  compare  articles  by  Carl  Lum- 
holtz  in  "Scribner's  Magazine,"  vol.  :n:,,  November,  1891,  p.  583, 
and  Bulletin  of  the  American  Geographical  Society,  vol.  xxiii. 
p.  388.  This  writer  calls  attention  to  the  rumored  existence  of 
the  mines  of  Vajnopa  and  Tayopa  in  the  Sierra  Madre  of  north- 
em  Mexico,  which  were  owned  by  the  Jesuits.  "  According  to 
tradition,  the  Apaches  killed  every  soul  in  these  two  mines." 
These  mines,  the  existence  of  which  is  revealed  by  the  study 
of  Church  records  and  Spanish  documents,  have  been  entirely 
forgotten,  and  await  re-discovery. 


i:f' 


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fill 


30 


THE  LAND   OF   THE  CLIFF-DWELLERa 


dropped  out,  and  that  the  men  had  been  carried 
with  sliding  dirt  a  distance  of  seventy  feet.  Fur- 
ther examination  showed  that  these  seventy  feet 
were  an  old  stope  containing  Indian  potsherds  and 
stone  tools ;  no  trace  of  metal  tools  was  found. 
The  superintendent  then  abandoned  that  portion 
of  the  mine,  and  went  farther  up  hill  to  sink  a 
shaft  on  the  same  vein,  at  a  spot  where  stood 
a  juniper-tree  apparently  two  or  three  hundred 
years  old.  He  had  the  tree  cut  down,  sank  a 
shaft,  and  in  eighteen  feet  struck  ancient  work- 
ings again. 

Apart  from  the  native  metals,  the  ores  which 
the  Spaniards  particularly  sought  were  carbonates 
of  lead,  —  ores  which  they  thoroughly  understood 
and  were  accustomed  to  smelt.  Many  a  mine  in 
Arizona  and  New  Mexico  bears  traces  of  old  Span- 
ish workings.  Lead  mines,  however,  furnished  a 
much  better  material  for  the  reduction  of  silver, 
which  was  one  of  the  perquisites  beyond  all  others 
of  the  Spanish  conquerors. 

In  time  the  Spanish  rule  became  oppressive,  and 
several  of  the  friars  who  had  established  missions 
at  the  pueblo  towns  were  murdered.  About  1672 
the  Apaches  invaded  the  district,  destroyed  sev- 
eral of  these  towns,  and  some  of  the  friars  were 
killed.      In  time,  the  Dueblos   revolted   against 


»A 


y 


\ 


SPANISH  OCCUPArJCnr. 


31 


their  foreign  masters,  and  succeeded  in  driving 
them  away.  Hundreds  of  the  Spaniards  were 
massacred,  and  the  survivors  fled  into  the  south- 
em  valleys.  The  leader  of  the  natives  was  named 
Pope.  After  the  retreat  of  the  Spaniards,  the 
Estufas  (the  Council  and  Religious  Chambers 
of  the  pueblos)  were  re-opened,  and  the  churches 
and  crosses  were  destroyed.  In  1692  the  coun- 
try was  re-conquered  by  Diego  de  Vargas,  and  the 
power  of  the  pueblo  tribes,  as  far  as  united  effort 
was  concemedjWas  forever  crushed.  From  1687  to 
1711  the  Jesuit  Father  Eusebio  Francisco  Kino 
axjcomplished  much  in  the  way  of  establishing 
missions  in  Sonora,  near  the  borders  of  Arizona, 
and  paved  the  way  for  the  sway  of  the  monks.  ^ 

In  1698  the  Spaniards  feared  invasion  by  the 
French  from  Louisiana,  and  in  1700  the  Apaches 
told  of  an  Indian  village  that  had  been  destroyed 
by  them.2  j^  jy^g  Valverde,  with  over  a  hun- 
dred Spaniards,  and  with  the  assistance  of  the 
Apaches,  waged  strife  with  the  Yutahs  and  Coman- 
ches.  In  this  warfare  he  skirted  the  eastern  base 
of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  is  thought  to  have 
reached  a  more  northern  point  than  any  of  the 

1  Bancroft,  vol.  xvii.  pp  352-354. 

3  La  Salle  discovered  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  in  1682, 
and  was  mardered  in  Texas  in  1687. 


Hi. 

'ii 


82 


THE   LAND   OF   THE   CLIFF-DWELLERS. 


previous  explorers.  On  the  banks  of  a  river, 
probably  the  Arkansas,  he  came  upon  men  who 
had  received  gunshot  wounds  at  the  hands  of  the 
French  or  their  Indian  allies.  It  was  about  this 
time  that  all  the  country  west  of  the  Mississippi 
was  claimed  by  the  French.  The  same  year  that 
Valverde  crossed  the  plains,  Du  Tissenet  was 
sent  from  New  Orleans  to  explore  tl^e  regions  to 
the  north.^  Doubtless  it  was  his  expedition  that 
was  reported  by  the  Indians  of  the  plains  to  the 
Spanish  on  the  frontier  of  New  Mexico,  and  we 
learn  that  they  sent  a  caravan  fron  Santa  Fd  in 
the  following  year  to  put  a  stop  to  the  encroach- 
ments of  the  French.  Historians  do  not  entirely 
agree  in  stating  the  facts  in  regard  to  this  expedi- 
tion. Some  write  that  the  Spaniards  blundered,^ 
and  that  the  Missouri  Indians,  who  were  friendly 
to  the  French,  treacherously  fell  upon  them  and 
destroyed  all  but  one  man,  a  priest,  who  escaped 
to  Santa  ¥4  and  preserved  the  records. 

From  this  time  on,  till  the  coming  of  the  Amer- 
icans, the  history  of  the  Spanish  occupancy  is 
made  up  of  details  of  the  misrule  of  the  priests 
and  the  sorrowful  story  of  Indian  wars.  But  in  a 
country  where,  on  account  of  climatic  conditions, 

1  Bancroft,  voL  xvii.  p.  222. 

2  HoUoway,  History  of  Kansas,  p.  88 ;  Spring,  Kansas,  p.  20. 


■  \ 


SPANISH  OCCUPANCY. 


33 


wants  were  few,  the  people,  by  the  aid  of  irriga- 
tion, without  any  very  hard  labor  and  with  the 
help  of  their  burros,  sheep,  and  cattle,  eked  out 
a  comfortable  subsistence.  A  system  of  serfdom 
called  "peonage"  (voluntary  servitude  for  debt) 
grew  up,  and  thus  the  cattle  and  sheep  owners 
were  able  to  have  their  herds  taken  care  of  at 
little  expense.^ 

1  Scribner'8    Magazine,    vol.  x.,   No.    6,    p.   769,  —  C.    F. 
Lummis. 


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('    ! 


CHAPTER  IV. 

ANGLO-AMERICAN  EXPLORATION. 

THERE  is  some  evidence  that  an  Indian  of  the 
Missouri  valley  traversed  the  country  to  the 
waters  of  the  Columbia,  and  between  the  years 
1745  and  1750  descended  that  great  river  to  the 
Pacific.  This  is  the  only  case  where  we  learn  of 
an  Indian  finding  a  transcontinental  pathway.  If 
the  report  is  true,  he  forestalled  even  the  French 
of  Canada,  for  it  was  not  until  1752  that  there 
was  established  a  fort  at  the  base  of  the  Rockies 
in  British  Columbia,  and  not  until  1793  did  Mac- 
kensie  cross  the  Northern  Rockies  and  the  Cana- 
dian Selkirks,^  though  he  thus  anticipated  by 
some  twelve  years  those  adventurous  travellers 
from  within  our  own  borders,  Lewis  and  Clarke. 

Not  a  trapper  from  our  own  frontier  had  even 
reached  the  base  of  the  Rockies  before  1800.    7 
it  not  strange  that,  with  New  Mexico,  the  Pacific 
States,  even  parts  of  the  bleak  Alaskan  shores, 
comparatively  well  known,  with  the  French  trap- 

^  Bancroft,  Northwest  Coast,  vol.  i.  (xxvii.)  pp.  26,  28. 


V 


■r';-: 


N 


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ifl 

1 

fi 

n^H 

ANGLO-AMERICAN   EXPLORATION. 


35 


pers  girdling  the  continent  in  British  America, 
and  La  Vdrendrye  sightinf^  the  mountains  about 
the  sources  of  tlie  Yellowstone,  nevertheless  the 
great  Central  Plain  and  the  highway  through 
South  Pass  were  entirely  unknown  ?  No  white 
man  had  ever  looked  upon  the  great  peaks  of  the 
Front  and  Wind  River  ranges.  Perhaps  it  is  not 
strange  that  the  Canadians  extended  their  frontier 
so  much  faster  than  the  Americans,  for  they  con- 
trolled the  great  highway  by  the  Lakes ;  while  we 
know  that  when  the  first  Continental  Congress 
assembled,  there  were  but  two  or  three  hundred 
Americans  west  of  the  Alleghanies,^  and  even  at 
the  end  of  the  war  of  the  Revolution  the  greater 
part  of  what  is  now  the  United  States  was  under 
the  dominion  of  Spain. 

The  first  man  to  reach  the  Rockies  by  the 
way  of  the  Platte  River  was  La  Lande  from 
Kaskaskia.  Between  Louisiana  and  New  Mexico 
there  had  been  no  trading  communications  be- 
fore 1800,  though  both  parties  had  established 
flourishing  commerce  with  the  Indians.  But 
in  1804  "William  Morrison  of  Kaskaskia  sent 
Baptiste  La  Lande,  a  French  Creole,  with  mer- 
chandise, directing  him  to  reach  Santa  F^  if 
possible,  and  to  establish  trade  at  that  point. 
»  Roosevelt,  The  Winning  of  the  West,  voL  U.  p.  370. 


:i 


i! 


8G 


THE  LAND   OF  THE  CLIFF-DWELLERS. 


He  succeeded  in  reaching  the  Rockies,  and  meet- 
ing with  Indians,  despatched  them  to  Santa  F^ 
witli  the  news  of  the  arrival  of  a  merchant  from 
the  Far  East.  Being  well  received,  he  disposed 
of  his  goods  at  fabulous  prices,  and,  charmed  by 
some  lovely  brunettes  of  the  town,  he  decided  to 
remain  in  the  country ;  and  leaving  his  employer 
to  whistle  for  his  money,  appropriated  the  gains 
of  his  journey.* 

In  1802  a  Kentuckian,  James  Purseley,and  two 
hunters  set  out  from  the  Mississippi  for  a  hunt- 
ing expedition  on  the  Osage  Eiver.  The  Kansas 
Indians  stole  their  horses,  but  by  heroic  efforts 
Purseley  recovered  at  least  his  own.  The  next 
year  we  find  him  with  a  horde  of  Indians  hunt- 
ing and  trading  on  the  Platte.  The  Sioux  uncere- 
moniously drove  this  mixed  assemblage  into  the 
mountains.  They  finally  reached  the  northern 
boundary  of  New  Mexico,  and  Purseley  went 
ahead  to  feel  the  pulse  of  the  Spaniards.  He  was 
received  by  Governor  Alencaster  in  a  friendly 
manner,  and  the  whole  band,  following  after, 
spent  considerable  time  in  satisfactory  trade. 

1  Bancroft,  vol.  xvii.  p.  291 ;  Prince,  History  of  New  Mexico, 
p.  267 ;  Bancroft,  vol.  xxv.  p.  351.  Two  trappers,  Workman 
and  Spencer,  were  the  first  Americans  to  cross  the  Rockies  south 
of  Lewis  and  Clarke's  Pass. 


lit  ' 


mm 


i  I 


ANGLO-AMERICAN   EXPLORATION. 


37 


Purseley  had  had  enough  of  the  savages,  and 
decided  to  rest  at  Santa  ¥6.  He  hud  found  gold 
on  the  tributaries  of  the  Platte,  and  carried  some 
of  the  grains  in  his  shot-pouch  for  many  months, 
but  finally  threw  the  sample  away.  Having  cas- 
ually alluded  to  the  subject  to  some  Spaniards 
they  urged  him  to  show  them  the  place  of.  dis- 
covery. He  refused,  perhaps  for  patriotic  reasons, 
thinking  the  land  belonged  to  his  own  country- 
men instead  of  to  the  New  Mexicans.  He  after- 
wards told  the  truth  to  Lieutenant  Pike.^ 

Rumors  of  intended  exploration  on  the  part  of 
the  United  States,  and  reports  that  the  Burr  con- 
spiracy might  change  the  Spanish  frontier,  led  the 
Spaniards  in  1806  to  send  Lieutenant  Melgares, 
with  a  force  of  one  hundred  dragoons,  from  Chi- 
huahua, —  not  to  fight  the  Indians  of  the  plains, 
but  to  conciliate  them.  This  commander  was 
joined  by  five  hundred  militia.  He  descended 
the  Red  River,  took  counsel  of  the  Comanches, 
who  had  been  practically  useful  in  giving  infor- 
mation of  the  intentions  of  the  Americans,  and 
then  crossed  northward  to  the  Arkansas.  He 
visited  the  nation  of  the  Pawnees,  presented  the 
tribesmen  with  medals  and  flags,  and  gave  a  com- 
mission to  their  head  chief.  It  is  unfortunate  that 
1  Prince,  History  of  New  Mexico,  pp.  268-270. 


1  • 


I 


ii 


i  |i  I! 


1  \ 


m 


38 


THE  LAND  OF  THE   CLIFF-DWELLFKS. 


this  little  army  coivld  not  have  been  captured  by 
the  United  States  troops  just  as  Pike's  force  was 
afterwards  entrapped  by  the  New  Mexicans  on 
the  headwaters  of  the  Kio  Grande.  Melgares 
afterwards  returned  by  the  Arkansas  to  the 
Rocky  Mountains,  and  thence  to  Santa  ¥6} 
In  tliis  expedition  no  American  explorers  or 
filibusters  were  met  with ;  but  considering  the 
great  distance  travelled,  this  survey  of  terri- 
tory rivals  in  importance  the  journeys  of  Lewis 
and  Clarke,  and  that  of  Pike  ^ 

Lieutenant  Piko,  after  his  journey  to  the  sources 
of  the  Mississippi,  took  command,  at  the  request  of 
hip  chief,  General  Wilkinson,  of  an  expedition  to 
the  Rockies.  In  the  middle  of  October,  1805,  he 
caught  glimpses  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  after- 
wards, among  its  snows,  encountered  many  hard- 
ships. On  the  3d  of  December  he  measured 
the  height  of  the  mountain  to  which  his  name 
had  been  given,  and  which  will  keep  his  memory 
constantly  before  his  countrymen.  He  soon  after- 
wards crossed  the  thirty-eighth  parallel,  and  found 
himself  and  his  followers  in  New  Mexican  terri- 
tory, and,  as  prisoners,  led  to  Santa  F^.^ 

1  Bancroft,  vol.  xvii.  pp.  285-286 ;  Prince,  History  of  New 
Mexico,  p.  248. 

2  Prince,  p.  248. 

3  JPrince,  pp.  249-252  ;  Bancroft,  vol.  xxv.  p.  344,  and  vol 
xxvii.  pp.  293-296. 


I  I 


ANGLO-AMERICAN  EXPLORATION. 


39 


Now  that  these  preliminary  journeys  of  La 
Lande,  Purseley,  and  Pike  were  known,  trade 
with  Santa  F^  began ;  especially  from  the  infor- 
mation brought  by  the  intrepid  Pike  was  atten- 
tion called  to  the  possible  profits  to  be  gained  in 
such  traffic.  The  oncoming  American  trader  had 
this  great  advantage,  that  he  was  much  nearer  to 
New  Mexico  than  his  Southern  competitors.  The 
only  other  route  by  which  goods  could  be  received 
was  by  sea  to  Vera  Cruz,  thence  overland  to  the 
city  of  Mexico,  then  by  a  tedious  route  to  El  Paso, 
and  finally  by  caravans  which  once  in  six  months 
travelled  up  the  Kio  Grande.^  Trade  with  Santa 
F^  gradually  increased ;  but  on  account  of  the  hos- 
tility of  the  Indians,  an  armed  escort  was  furnished 
by  the  Government.^  Previous  to  1822,  pack-mules 
only  were  used  for  the  Santa  F^  trade  ;  but  in  that 
year  wagons  were  introduced.  The  trail  became 
definitely  marked  in  1834,  for  during  that  season 
rain  was  continuous  and  the  turf  soft,  so  that  the 
wagon-wheels  cut  deep  ruts  on  the  line  of  the 
most  direct  route,  and  these  marks,  deepened  from 
year  to  year,  were  never  obliterated  while  this 
route  was  used.*^      The  wagons  were  drawn  by 

1  Prince,  p.  271. 

*  Gregg,  Commerce  of  the  Prairies,  vol.  i.  pp.  29,  30,  31. 

»  Ibid.,  p.  311  (Philadelphia,  1851). 


>v 


; 


f  n 


40 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  CLIFF-DWELLERS. 


mules  or  oxen.  The  distance  from  Council  Grove 
to  Santa  ¥4  was  about  625  miles;  the  transit 
consumed  about  forty  days.  At  first  single  parties 
ventured  alone  on  the  long  journey ;  but  as  the  In- 
dian troubles  thickened,  it  was  customary  for  sev- 
eral "  outfits  "  to  join  in  one  caravan.  The  stories 
of  these  adventurers  are  as  interesting  as  the  tale 
of  any  border  life.  Strange  and  dangerous  as  was 
such  a  career,  participants  were  ever  attracted 
back  again  to  the  free  life  on  the  broad  prairie. 
The  excitement  and  novelty  of  meeting  the  differ- 
ent tribes  of  Indians  on  the  route,  the  chase  of 
the  buffalo,  the  stalking  of  the  antelope,  and  the 
many  novel  sights  and  sounds  tended  to  fascinate 
all  who  loved  adventure.  Stories  of  this  trail 
through  Kansas  to  Santa  F^  have  furnished  facts 
for  Mayne  Eeid  and  Marryat.  Beside  the  ani- 
mals indigenous  to  the  plains  the  wild  horse  now 
took  a  place,  and  marvellous  stories  were  told  of 
the  milk-white  steed  with  black-tipped  ears,  the 
fleetest  animal  of  the  broad  plains,  that  was  the 
leader  of  one  of  the  bands,  that  distanced  all  pur- 
suers.^ About  this  time  trappers  and  hunters 
came  to  occupy  a  prominent  place  in  the  annals 


f! 


1  Gregg,  vol.  ii.  p.  207.  This  is  an  interesting  bit  of  folk- 
lore described  by  Gregg,  Within  a  few  years  I  have  heard 
similar  stories  in  different  parts  of  the  West. 


i    "■■  Hi 


it; 


.iii*' 


PUEBLO     WOMAN     AND    ADOBE     HOUSE. 


I  ! 


ANGLO-AMERICAN   EXPLORATION. 


41 


of  the  region,  some  of  them  acting  in  the  capacity 
of  guides  to  various  exploring  parties.  Among 
these  was  the  famous  Kit  Carson.^ 

Now  forts  and  trading  posts  began  to  be  estab- 
lished near  the  base  of  tlie  Eockies, — the  Bents, 
St.  Vrain  and  others  being  interested  in  the  large 
fur-trade.  Some  of  these  structures,  built  for  de- 
fence, were  made  of  adobe,  imitating  the  style  of 
Mexican  and  pueblo  architecture.^ 

The   Mexicans   had  a  farming   establishment, 

1  Though  living  in  my  youth  in  a  frontier  town,  one  of  the 
termini  of  the  Santa  Fe  trail,  my  experience  in  the  Rockies 
has  been  with  the  second  generation  of  guides  and  hunters. 
William  Carson,  a  son  of  the  preceding,  was  my  companion  once 
in  the  Sangre  de  Cristo  Mountains.  Following  his  father's  voca- 
tion for  some  years,  he  was  a  scout  in  campaigns  against  the  Utes  ; 
but  after  the  close  of  Indian  warfare  he  settled  down  at  Fort 
Garland,  near  Sierra  Blanca.  Since  my  trip  with  him  he  has  met 
his  death,  caused  by  the  accidental  discharge  of  a  pistol. 

2  H.  H.  Bancroft,  History  of  Nevada,  Colorado,  and  Wyoming, 
vol.  XXV.  This  writer  quotes  (p.  354)  from  Farnham's  "  Travels 
in  the  Great  Western  Prairies,"  p.  35  :  "The  author  of  this 
book  was  at  Fort  William  in  1839,  and  wrote  accurately  of 
what  he  saw." 

"  In  the  months  of  June,  August,  and  September  there  are  in 
the  neighborhood  of  those  traders  from  fifteen  thousand  to  twenty 
thousand  savages  ready  and  panting  for  plunder  and  blood.  If 
they  engage  in  battling  out  old  causes  of  contention  among  them- 
selves, the  Messrs.  Bent  feel  comparatively  safe  in  Lheir  solitary 
fortress.  But  if  they  spare  each  other's  property  and  lives,  there 
are  great  anxieties  at  Fort  William  ;  every  hour  of  day  and  night 
is  pregnant  with  danger." 


II 


m 


iii 


L-l 


42  THE  LAND  OF  THE  CLIFF-DWELLERS. 

connected  with  the  trading  post,  called  El  Pueblo. 
This  was  located  where  the  Colorado  city  of  Pueblo 
now  stands.*  Grants  of  large  tracts  of  land  were 
made  to  private  individuals  by  the  Mexican  Gov- 
ernment ;  such  are  the  claims  known  as  the  Beau- 
bien,2  Vigil,  St.  Vrain,  and  Luis  Maria  Baca  grants. 
The  last-named  is  now  known  as  "The  Gilpin 
Eanch,"  its  later  owner  having  acquired  it  by 
purchase.  It  is  situated  in  San  Luis  Park,  the  fer- 
tile lands  lying  under  the  shadow  of  the  mighty 
Sangre  de  Cristo  range,  the  noble  Crestone  Peak 
being  included  in  the  alpine  domain.  The  north- 
ern border  of  the  ranch  lies  along  the  thirty-eiglith 
parallel,  which  formerly  marked  the  southern 
limits  of  the  United  States  territory  in  this  sec- 
tion of  country.  This  boundary  line  is  now 
marked  by  a  barbed  wire  fence.^ 

*  For  a  vivid  account  of  this  post,  see  "  Lippincott's  Magazine," 
December,  1880,  "Historical  Rocky  Mountain  Outpost,"  by 
George  Rex  Buckman. 

'^  Bancroft,  vol.  xxv.  p.  594.  Lucien  Maxwell  married  Beau- 
bien's  daughter  and  purchased  the  great  tract  of  land.  "  He 
erected  a  fine  house  on  the  Cimoi-ron,  where  he  entertained  in 
good  old  feudal  style,  suiTounded  by  his  dependents,  and  own- 
ing immense  herds  of  cattle,  sheep,  and  blooded  horses,  employ- 
ing as  herders  all  the  Cimarrons." 

*  One  of  my  companions  in  many  ascents  of  the  Rockies  once 
remarked  of  this  fence,  "  One  could  not  fail  to  run  his  eye  with 
interest  along  the  wire  fence  that  marked  its  northern  limit, 
when  told  that  it  was  on  the  thirty-eighth  parallel.    For  once  a 


ANGLO-AMERICAN  I'.XPLORATION. 

In  1821  Mexico,  under  the  leadership  of  Itur- 
bide,  a  native  Mexican,  gained  independence  from 
Spain.  In  1824  the  republic  was  organized,  which 
in  a  few  years  was  recognized  by  the  United 
States.  In  1846  war  was  declared  against  Mexico 
by  the  United  States,  and  General  Kearney 
marched  with  a  small  army  towards  Santa  Fd. 
It  is  not  any  part  of  this  book  to  discuss  politi- 
cal events,  but  let  us  consider  for  a  moment  the 
race  of  people  whom  he  was  to  oppose.  We  have 
been  regarding  the  conquerors  of  Mexico  and 
of  the  lands  to  the  north  as  Spaniards ;  we  must 
now  speak  of  them  as  Mexicans,  —  and  a  strange 
people  they  were.  The  inhabitants  of  the  Spanish 
peninsula  had  had  engrafted  into  their  stock 
many  foreign  elements.  Originally  Iberians  and 
Celts,  their  lands  were  overrun  by  Vandals  and 
Visigoths.  Later  the  followers  of  Mahomet, 
in  impetuous  westward  movements,  overran 
northern  Africa,  and  a  Mohammedan  people,  the 
Moors,  conquered  Spain.  For  several  centuries 
these  Southern  people  lived  in  the  conquered 
land,  and  though  expelled  in  the  fourteenth  cen- 

parallel  of  latitude  seemed  to  have  a  tangible  existence, — if  a 
barbed  wire  fence  can  be  called  'tangible*"  (" Appalachia," 
vol.  V.  p.  267:  "  Through  San  Luis  Park  to  Sierra  Blanca,"  by 
Charles  E.  Fay). 


V 


f 


II 


.  IM 


^ 


;-'    \i  *ii 


,ifl 


44 


THE  LAND   OF  THE  CLIFF-DWELLEliS. 


tury,  their  blood  was  mingled  with  that  of  the 
fairest  chivalry  of  Spain.  So  among  the  Spanish 
conquerors  in  the  New  World  were  many  knights 
whose  ancestors  had  been  followers  of  the  Prophet, 
descendants  of  men  who  from  the  house-tops,  and 
with  their  faces  turned  towards  Mecca,  called  upon 
the  name  of  Allah, 

Here  in  the  land  of  the  pueblos  we  find  these 
descendants  of  the  Moors,  living  in  a  land  which 
may  be  compared  in  many  ways  to  Arabian 
and  African  deserts,  and,  under  the  shadow  of  a 
mightier  Sierra  Madre  than  they  saw  in  Spain, 
intermingling  with  and  marrying  the  daughters 
of  pueblo  chiefs,  of  a  race  who  also  from  the  ter- 
races upon  the  house-tops  made  their  prayers, 
and  with  their  faces  turned  towards  the  east 
worshipped  the  rising  sun.^ 

The  history  of  the  easy  conquest  of  New 
Mexico  by  the  Americans  is  well  known,  and 
the  report  of  how  the  Mexicans  ran  away  has 
impressed  upon  our  own  people  the  opinion  that 

1  CastaReda  chronicles  that  the  pueblos  had  aged  priests, 
persons  who  at  sunrise  ascended  to  the  highest  terraces  of  the 
villages,  there  to  a  silent  and  reverential  people  delivered  a 
sermon,  and  gave  them  counsel  on  the  way  of  living  (Ternaux- 
Compaus,  vol.  ix.,  "Relation"). 

Also  compare  "A  Journal  of  American  Ethnology  and  Archse- 
ology,"  J.  Walter  Fewkes,  editor,  vol.  i.  pp.  3,  4,  5. 


\ 


[in 


ANGLO-AMERICAN   EXPLORATION. 


45 


they  were  a  cowardly  race.  Is  it  probable  that 
a  people  descended  from  such  renowned  world- 
finders  as  were  the  Spanish  cavaliers  of  only  three 
centuries  ago  should  have  so  degenerated  ?  Is  it 
not  more  likely  that  the  weakness  of  the  New 
Mexicans  was  due  to  the  quality  of  their  leader- 
ship, and  to  the  fact  that  there  was  little  to  bind 
them  to  the  central  government  far  in  the  south  ?  ^ 

After  the  American  annexation,  the  country 
was  visited  by  travellers  and  scientific  observers. 
Well-equipped  expeditions,  sent  out  by  the  United 
States  Government,  explored  many  remote  cor- 
ners, and  the  results  as  portrayed  in  different 
reports  give  us  much  information  in  regard  to  the 
archaeology  of  this  fascinating  land. 

Later  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology  placed  special 
investigators  in  the  field,  and  their  work  is  being 
recorded  in  beautifully  illustrated  volumes.^ 

1  This  is  the  view  of  the  Mexican  character  which  is  taken  by 
Davis  in  *'  El  Gringo,"  and  by  other  authorities.  For  an  inter- 
esting sketch  of  New  Mexico  and  its  people  of  the  present  day, 
I  would  refer  the  reader  to  an  article,  by  C.  F.  Lummis,  in 
'•  Scribner's  Magazine "  for  December,  J 891.  "Sun,  silence,  and 
adobe, —  that  is  New  Mexico  in  three  words  .  .  .  Here  is  the  land 
oi  poco  tiempo  —  the  home  of  '  Pretty  Soon.'  Why  hurry  with 
the  hurrying  world  ?  The  '  pretty  soon  '  of  New  Spain  is  better 
than  the  '  Now  !  Now  ! '  of  the  haggard  States.  The  opiate  sun 
soothes  to  rest,  the  adobe  is  made  to  lean  against,  the  hush  of 
day-long  noon  would  not  be  broken."  _   \ 

2  On  account  of  the  already  too  great  length  of  these  historical 


■U 


J  •    i 

If 


\ 


: '  'it 

m 


!i: 


46 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  CLIFF-DWELLERS. 


notes,  I  will  not  attempt  to  follow  in  detail  the  records  of  differ- 
ent  exploring  parties.  It  is  sufficient  that  I  refer  and  quote 
from  them  in  the  following  pages,  and  at  present  simply  mention 
some  of  them  :  — 

John  R.  IJartlett,  "  Personal  Narrative  of  Explorations,"  etc.; 
Capt.  L.  Sitgreaves,  "Report  of  an  Expedition  to  tho  ZuRi 
and  Colorado  Rivers;"  laeut.  J.  W.  Alj«rt,  "Report  of  his 
Examination  of  New  Mexico ; "  Lieut. -Col.  W.  H.  Emory, 
"Journal  of  a  Military  Reconnoissanoe ; "  J.  \V.  Powell,  "Ex- 
ploration of  the  Colorado  of  the  West ;  "  Reports  of  Liinitenant 
Ives,  Tiieut.  J.  H.  Simpson,  Dr.  Oscar  Leow,  Lieutenants  Wliip- 
pie  and  Birnie ;  "  Report  upon  United  States  Geographical 
Surveys,"  First  Lieut.  Geo.  M.  Wheeler.  In  vol.  vii.  (Archoe- 
ology)  is  a  valuable  report  on  the  pottery  and  relics  of  the 
Southwest,  by  Frederick  W^.  Putnam. 

Of  the  workers  in  the  ranks  of  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology  staff 
(those  especially  conno'^t^i'd  with  the  field  work),  mention  may 
well  be  made  of  Mr.  1 1.  Gushing,  widely  known  also  for  his 
Zu&i  studies,  through  many  magazine  articles  ("The  Cen- 
tury," vol.  xxiv.  pp.  526,  "  An  Aboriginal  Pilgrimage,"  and  vol. 
XXV.  p.  191,  600,  "  My  Adventures  in  Zuhi  ")  ;  Mr.  W.  H. 
Holmes,  whose  writings  upon  pottery  and  other  subjects  are 
of  the  greatest  value  ;  Victor  MindelefT;  Cosmo  Mindeleff  ;  and 
Mr.  Hillers,  the  competent  photographer. 


')' 


I 


t 


I  I 


I 


i 


1^ 


'i 


ll 


CHAPTER  V. 

WILD  TRIBES. 

ALL  through  the  broad  land  covered  by 
Coronado's  march  were  found  scattered 
either  wild  tribes  or  a  semi-civilized  people. 
Let  us   speak   Urst  of   the   former. 

In  the  southwest  the  Seris  Indians  were  met 
with.  They  were  by  nature  very  fierce,  and  at 
times  made  havoc  among  the  sedentary  Indiana 
of  Sonora.  In  their  warfare  they  used  poisoned 
arrows.^  The  Tephuanas  were  ferocious  savages, 
who  cut  off  the  heads  of  their  stronger  captives, 
and    took    the   weaker   ones    for    slaves.      The 

*  That  the  Opates  used  them  is  fully  established,  and  the 
counter-poison  is  also  known.  The  custom  appears  to  have 
been  general  with  the  tribes  of  Souora,  and  the  poison  is 
described  as  mortal,  though  not  in  every  instance.  In  addi- 
tion to  the  bow  and  arrow,  the  usual  and  well-known  aboriginal 
weapons,  the  club,  the  shield,  and  possibly  the  sling,  were 
handled  by  the  Opates  in  warfare,  and,  like  less  sedentary 
tribes,  they  frequently  set  out  in  small  war-parties,  acftompanied, 
by  a  sorcerer  or  medicine-man.  —  Bandelkr,  vol.  iii.  p.  70. 


• 


j     'I 


-1.' 


' 


48 


THE  LAND   OP  THE   CLIFF-DWELLERS. 


II.  I 

(i 

i 


B  I 


Opates  used  poisoned  arrows  and  fortified  ele- 
vated places,  as  is  shown  by  remains  in  Sonora. 
The  Tobosos  of  Chihuahua  were  also  a  very 
fierce  people.^ 

Farther  to  the  north,  within  the  present  limits 
of  Mexico  and  Arizona,  lived  the  Apaches,  —  a 
nomad  people  who  warred  continually.  The 
Apaches  are  of  Tinneh  stock,  and  the  name  by 
which  we  know  them  is  not  a  word  of  their 
tongue,  but  was  given  to  them  by  the  Maricopas 
and  passed  over  to  us  by  the  Mexicans.  Their 
ancestors  occupied  lands  in  the  frozen  north,  in 
British  America,  where  they  were  a  peaceable 
people.  But  after  emigration  to  a  more  southern 
clime,  the  branch  in  Arizona  and  New  Mexico 
became  fighters,  and  being  of  a  very  wild  nature, 
they  have  been  able  until  very  recently  to  liold 
their  own  against  all  comers.  ^  From  the  date 
of  the  arrival  of  the  Spaniards  till  the  conquest 
by  General  Crook,  the  Apaches  have  been  at 
enmity  against  the  whites."*^  Of  the  several 
bands,  the  Tonto  Apaches  were  the  fiercest.'* 
The  Apache  used  primitive  weapons,  such  as  the 

1  Bandelier,  /ol.  iii.  pp.  74,  76,  82,  94,  95. 

2  Bourke,  On  the  Border  with  Crook,  pp.  113,  114. 
»  Ibid.,  p.  2. 

<  Ibid.,  p.  129. 


WILD  TRIBES. 


49 


bow,  arrow,  and  lance.  He  was  clid  very  lightly, 
and  he  knew  how  to  subsist  apon  the  herbs  and 
fruits  of  the  country.  Though  in  the  western 
sections  large  game  was  scarce,  wild  turkeys, 
quails,  and  rabbits  were  plentiful.^  A  plant 
called  the  mescal  was  one  of  the  main  supplies 
of  food.  Tlie  Apaches  have  remarkably  clear 
vision,  and  their  mode  of  communication  was 
by  signal  fires  and  smoke  which  shot  up  from 
the  peaks  a'^d  mesas.  Dogs  were  used  by  them 
as  beasts  of  burden.  In  the  eastern  section  they 
lived  almost  entirely  by  the  chase,  continually 
following  the  buffalo.^  This  animal  gave  them 
meat,  clotliing,  fuel,  and  shelter ;  from  the  bones 
they  made  their  awls  and  arrow-points.  The 
Apaches  have  intermarried  with  other  tribes, 
especially  with  the  Yumas  and  Mojaves.  They 
ranged  over  a  broad  country,  for  Coronado  met 
them  in  1541  east  of  the  pueblo  of  Pecos. 

Like  all  other  tribes,  these  Indians  were  very 
superstitious,  and  the  medicine-man  was  an 
important   character. 

The  Navajos,  who  were  of  the  same  stock  as 
the  Apaches,  lived  in  the  northern  part  of  what 

1  Bourke,  On  the  Border  with  Crook,  pp.  129,  146. 

2  B"-  delier,  vol.  iii.  pp.  82,  178. 


I  It 


r 


50 


THE   LAND   OF  THE  CLIFF-DWELLERS. 


I'' 


f     ! 


is  now  New  Mexico.  They  formed  a  very  power- 
ful tribe.  They  state  that  they  once  came  from 
beyond  the  Sierra  La  Plata.  Tl.ey  are  a  polyg- 
amous people,  but  their  religious  creed  is  some- 
thing like  that  of  the  pueblos.  They  irrigate  the 
land,  till  it,  and  live  at  times  in  log-cabins.  * 
They  are  blanket-weavers,  and  makers  of  pottery 
and  baskets.^ 

Among  other  tribes  were  the  Mojaves,  Yumas, 
Hualapais,  and  Cosinos.  Of  these,  the  Hualapais 
dwelt  in  and  about  the  Grand  Canon  of  Colorado. 
They  were  a  brave  people.  Farther  to  the  north 
were  the  Yutahs,  who  occupied  a  broad  country 
in  different  branches,  covering  the  whole  of  what 
is  now  Utah  and  Colorado.  In  the  West  they 
were  a  degraded  race,  much  allied  in  habits  and 
customs  to  the  Digger  Indians. 

On  the  eastern  borders  the   Ute   Indians,  as 

1  Bancroft,  vol.  i.  p.  596  ;  Bandelier,  vol.  iii.  pp.  175  and 
288,  also  p.  31.  In  1881  the  population  was  estimated  at 
twenty-one  thousand  (Bandelier,  vol.  iii.  p.  259 ;  Bourke, 
Snake-dance  of  the  Moquis,  p.  278 ;  Bancroft,  vol.  xvii.  p.  235). 
The  Comanches  dwelling  on  the  eastern  plains  do  not  appear  in 
history  till  1716. 

2  The  ITavajo  Indians  of  the  present  day  are  also  silversmithf;. 
Many  writers  hold  to  the  opinion  that  they  did  not  learn  the  art 
from  Spaniards  or  Americans  (2d  Annual  Report  of  the  Bureau 
of  Ethnology  for  1880-1881,  article  by  "Washington  Matthews, 
"  Navajo  Silversmiths"). 


mji*"* 


Z 

> 
< 

> 

o 

o 
> 

o 
z 


.  11 


^i-  llv 


i 


I 


Is 


; 


i' 


1i 


!1 


3.)  ' 

*       'J: 


•MM 


I- 1 


I 


)r 


WILD  TRIBES. 


51 


we  are  accustomed  to  speak  of  the  tribes,  for- 
merly maintained  their  supremacy  throughout 
the  greater  part  of  that  section  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains  which  lies  in  what  is  now  known  as 
Colorado.  From  their  fastnesses  among  these 
sierras  they  frequently  made  incursions  against 
the  Indians  of  the  plains,  and  if  unsuccessful  in 
such  inroads,  they  retreated  into  rocky  defiles 
where  it  was  destruction  to  their  foes  to  pursue 
them.  The  early  Spanish  expeditions  met  these 
Yutahs  on  the  prairie  in  their  marches  eastward 
from  the  land  of  the  pueblos.  Till  within  a  few 
years  the  various  tribes  of  this  once  great  nation 
hunted  through  the  broad  valleys  of  the  San 
LuIb,  South,  and  Middle  Parks;  traces  of  their 
former  habitations  '  -e  but  recently  disappeared 
from  the  banks  of  the  river-courses  in  northern 
Colorado,  and  their  breastworks  are  still  to  be 
mot  with  on  the  eastern  slopes  of  the  San  Juan 
Mountains.  At  present  the  greater  part  of  these 
tribes,  in  diminished  numbers,  are  confined  to  a 
narrow  strip  of  land,  part  of  their  ancient  domain 
in  the  southwestern  corner  of  the  State. 

Of  tribes  somewhat  in  advance  of  the  wander- 
ing Indians,  mention  may  be  mmh  of  the  Pimas  of 
Arizona,  the  s\>uthern  branch  living  in  houses  of 
stone  and  adobe,  and  the  more  northern  people 


I  il 


62  THE  LAND   OF  THE   CLIFF-DWELLERS. 

in  huts.  The  Pimas  wove  cloth,  tilled  the  soil, 
and  were  progressing  in  civilization  when  the 
Spaniards  came.  They  irrigated  the  lands,  not  by 
digging  canals,  but  by  guiding  mountain-torrents 
into  their  fields.  ^ 

1  Bandelier,  vol.  iii.  pp.  30,  104;  Bancroft,  vol.  i.  p.  529. 


i    v 


I 


in 

'111 


N 


it-  ? 


'*t1 


'4  *l 


!       s 


1     J 


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4li 


1 1 


I      ■     i 


CHAPTER    VI. 


PUEBLO  TRIBES. 


THE  Spanish  invaders  found  nearly  a  hundred 
inhabited  dwelling-places  of  the  pueblo 
tribes.  Of  these  towns,  Zuni,  Acoma,  Tiguas, 
Queres,  Jemez,  Tehua,  and  Taos  are  identified  as 
places  named  in  the  Spanish  chronicles.^  Many 
others  which  must  have  been  inhabited  at  the 
date  of  the  invasion  have  since  fallen  into  ruin, 
while  some  were  destroyed  by  the  Spaniards, 
and  others  by  the  Indians.  From  the  distribu- 
tion of  these  ruins,  —  many  of  which,  such  as 
those  of  Casa  Grande  on  the  Gila  River  in 
Arizona,  were  in  a  state  of  dilapidation  when  the 
Spaniards  came,  —  one  infers  that  these  people 
had  been  declining  in  numbers  for  centuries,  and 
had  been  unable  to  maintain  their  hold  against 
more  savage  tribes,  the  more  civilized  going  down 
before  the  more  barbarous.^ 

The  pueblo  district  proper  occupied  a  country 
some  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles  from  north  to 

1  Bandelier,  vol.  i.  p.  28. 

2  Bancroft,  vol.  xvii.  pp.  3,  4. 


*'M, 


54 


THE   LAND   OP  THE   CLIFF-DWELLERS. 


^'1 


south,  and  about  three  hundred  miles  from  east  to 
west.  Of  the  towns,  Taos  was  the  most  northern, 
and  Moqui  the  westernmost.  The  villages  were 
somewhat  widely  separated,  and  the  inhabitants 
were  often  hostile.  Wild  tribes  hunted  over  the 
intervening  spaces,  for  the  sedentary  people  occu- 
pied but  little  of  the  adjacent  valleys.^ 

The  Zuni  group,  which  consists  of  seven  dis- 
tinct pueblos,  has  been  identified  with  the  Seven 
Cities  of  Cibola  of  the  Spaniards.^  The  Moqui 
towns  also  consisted  of  seven  villages.  The  great 
pueblo  of  Pecos  contained  the  largest  population. 
Acoma  was  famous  for  its  position  upon  a  bold 
rock  rising  up  from  the  plains,  and  has  not  changed 
during  three  centuries.^    It  is  built  on  a  barren 

1  BanJelier,  vol.  iii.  pp.  119, 120.  "The  pueblos,  besides,  were 
not  harmonious  among  themselves.  Divided  into  seven  distinct 
linguistic  groups,  the  difference  of  languages  created  a  barrier 
that  often  led  to  intertribal  hostilities.  Moreover,  there  was 
not  even  unbroken  peace  between  the  villages  of  the  same  stock. 
The  villages  of  that  time  were  on  an  average  much  smaller  than 
those  of  to-day  inhabited  by  Pueblo  Indians  ;  but  there  was  a 
greater  number  of  them.  The  aggregate  population  of  the  pue- 
blos in  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries  did  not  exceed 
twenty-five  thousand  souls." 

2  About  thirty  miles  to  the  eastward  of  Zuiii  is  El  Moro,  or 
Inscription  Rock,  the  high  mesa  above  it  crowned  with  ruins. 
On  this  rock  many  travellers  have  carved  their  names,  Diego  de 
Vargas  placing  his  there  in  1692. 

'  Baudelier,  vol.  iii.  pp.  133,  127  ;  Bandolier,  vol.  i.  pp.  14 
to  16. 


PUEBLO   TRIBElS. 


66 


sandstone  mesa,  or  plateau,  some  three  hmulred 
feet  above  the  plain.  The  town  can  be  approached 
only  by  two  narrow  and  very  steep  paths.  It 
has  three  parallel  streets,  and  about  six  hundred 
inhabitants.  The  houses,  built  of  adobe,  are  of 
two  or  three  stories.  There  are  no  doors  or  win- 
dows in  the  first  story,  and  the  roof,  by  which 
alone  an  entrance  can  be  gained  to  these  struc- 
tures, can  be  reached  only  by  ladders.  The  surface 
of  the  mesa  contains  about  ten  acres,  and  there 
are  about  sixty  or  seventy  houses  ;  the  doors  open 
to  the  south.  The  people  cook  in  earthen  pots  of 
their  own  manufacture..  They  make  an  unfer- 
mented  bread,  which  they  roll  into  thin  wafers. 
They  use  spoons  ..aade  of  horn  and  wood ;  they 
have  no  furniture,  and  sleep  under  sheepskins. 
There  are  no  springs  upon  this  plateau,  but  there 
is  an  artificial  tank  20  X  150  feet,  which  is  four 
to  five  feet  deep.  In  this  they  collect  the  melted 
snow  in  winter,  and  rain-water  in  the  summer. 
A  mission  was  founded  here  in  1628,  and  in 
1680  a  number  of  the  Franciscan  monks  connected 
with  it  were  murdered.^ 

Taos  is  more  isolated  from  the  rest  of  the  world 
than  any  of  the  other  pueblos,  for  it  is  walled  in 

1  Wheeler's    Report,   vol.   vii.,    Archaeology  ;  Oscar    Lcow, 
p.  325,  etc. 


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THE  LAND   OF   THE   CLIFF-DWELLERS. 


by  very  high  mountains.  An  annual  fair  has 
been  held  here  for  many  years,  to  which  the  In- 
dians and  pueblos  come  to  trade.  The  building 
is  very  large,  rising  in  terraces  to  a  height  of 
seven  stories.  The  whole  is  surrounded  by  an 
adobe  wall.  The  people  have  a  belief  that  at  some 
time  Montezuma  will  come  over  this  peak  on  the 
back  of  an  eagle,  and  that  there  will  then  be  an  end 
to  all  their  sorrows ;  and  one  man  is  supposed  to 
watch  for  this  event  every  day  in  the  year,  with 
his  face  turned  toward  the  mountain.^ 

Most  of  the  pueblo  structures  were  built  in  the 
form  of  terraces,  and  placed  upon  the  top  of  high, 
isolated  plateaus.  They  could  only  be  reached  by 
winding,  circuitous  paths,  in  many  cases  steps 
being  cut  on  the  face  of  cliffs.  The  lower  stories 
have  no  doors  or  windows,  the  upper  stories 
being  reached  by  ladders,  as  has  been  shown  in 
the  description  of  Taos,  entrance  being  gained  by 
holes  in  the  roof.  The  rooms  of  the  buildings  were 
generally  very  small ;  the  chimneys  were  made  of 
pieces  of  very  large  jars,  or  ollas.  Each  pueblo 
had  one  or  more  estufas,  or  underground  chambers, 

1  For  information  regarding  Taos,  I  am  indebted  to  my  friend 
Mr.  G.  P.  D.  Townsend,  of  Colorado  Springs,  who  has  visited 
that  pueblo  and  obtained  much  information  and  many  valuable 
photographs.  The  Montezuma  myth  I  have  referred  to  in 
another  chapter.  • . 


PUEBLO    TRIBES. 


67 


usually  circular  in  form,  though  often  square,  in 
which  religious  exercises  or  the  councils  of  the 
chiefs  were  held.  The  rafters  of  the  buildings 
were  made  of  hewn  timbers,  which  were  undoubt- 
edly cut  with  stone  axes.  The  customs  of  the 
people  were  very  simple.  They  dressed  in  cloths 
of  cotton  and  tanned  skins,  though  in  some  cases 
they  went  naked  in  winter  and  in  summer.  The 
Moqui  tribes  raised  their  own  cotton,  and  wove 
their  own  garments. 

Most  of  the  Pueblo  Indians  speak  languages 
which  are  entiiJy  different  from  one  another, 
though  the  people  of  Pecos  spoke  the  language 
of  the  Jemez,  and  in  recent  times,  after  becoming 
greatly  reduced,  abandoned  their  own  pueblos 
and  took  refuge  with  their  kindred.  Many  of 
the  pueblo  uowns,  such  as  Isleta,  Santo  Domingo, 
and  Laguna,  have  become  Mexicanized ;  but 
others,  as  those  of  Zuni,  Moqui,  and  Taos,  are 
still  somewhat  primitive,  and  the  stories  written 
by  the  old  Spanish  chroniclers  agree  very  nearly 
with  the  accounts  given  by  modern  explorers. 

For  instance,  from  Castafieda,  the  chronicler  of 
Coronado's  expedition,  we  learn  that  the  province 
of  Cibola  contained  seven  villages,  the  houses  of 
which  are  three  or  four  stories  high,  though  in 
one  of  the  villages  there  were  some  which  reached 


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68 


THE   LAND   OP  THE    CLIFF-DWELLERS. 


as  high  as  seven  stories.  The  Indians  were  very 
intelligent,  and  dressed  themselves  with  pieces  of 
cloth  resembling  napkins.  They  had  mantles 
made  of  feather  or  rabbit-skins  and  cotton  stuffs ; 
they  also  made  garments  of  well-tanned  skin. 
The  women  wore  a  kind  of  mantle,  which  they 
fastened  around  the  neck  and  passed  under  the 
right  arm.  They  rolled  their  hair  up  behind 
their  ears  in  the  form  of  a  wheel.  According  to 
Castafieda,  many  bears,  lions,  wild-cats,  otters,  and 
other  wild  animals  infested  the  land.  Very  large 
turquoises  were  found  there,  but,  as  was  gener- 
ally the  case,  not  in  such  quantities  as  the  eager 
Spaniards  expected.  The  houses  were  built  in 
common,  the  women  making  the  mortar  and  build- 
ing the  walls.  The  pueblos  had  no  lime,  but  made 
a  mixture  of  ashes,  dirt,  and  coal ;  and  though  they 
ran  the  houses  four  stories  high,  the  walls  were 
not  more  than  three  feet  in  thickness :  these 
were  coated  with  a  mixture  made  from  burned 
twigs,  earth,  and  water.  They  also  made  a  kind 
of  rubble-stone  from  the  same  mixture.^  The 
houses  belonged  to  the  women,  and  the  estufas  to 
the  men,  the  women  not  being  allowed  to  sleep  in 

1  The  Pueblo  Indians  of  the  present  day  also  make  bricks  of 
mud  mixed  with  straw,  forming  the  mass  in  moulds  of  wood  or 
other  material.     See  illustration  facing  page  41. 


PUEBLO   TRIBES. 


69 


the  estufas,  or  even  enter  them,  except  when  they 
had  occasion  to  bring  food  to  their  husbands  or 
sons.  There  were  many  rooms,  which  were  kept 
very  clean ;  some  were  designed  for  kitchens, 
and  others  for  grinding  grain.  The  women  ground 
this  grain  upon  stones,  which  were  fastened  into 
the  masonry.  One  of  them  cracked  the  grain,  the 
next  one  crushed  it,  and  the  third  reduced  it  to 
powder.  They  ma  1^  j^reat  quantities  of  flour  at 
once.  In  making  bread  they  wet  up  this  flour 
with  warm  water,  and  made  a  thin  paste  which 
resembled  wafers.^ 

In  all  these  provinces  were  found  pottery  and 
vases  of  curious  form  and  workmanship. 

To-day  many  of  the  Pueblo  Indians  have  em- 
braced the  Catholic  religion,  and  the  Moquis  are 
about  the  only  tribe  among  whom  there  are  no 
permanent  priests.  But  the  people  cling  to  many 
of  their  heathen  rites.  The  pueblos  hold  their 
land  in  common,  but  for  purposes  of  cultivation 
it  is  divided  among  families.  They  raise  their 
crops  entirely  by  irrigation.  They  own  a  great 
deal  of  stock,  consisting  of  large,  herds  of  horses, 
mules,  and  sheep.  They  are  a  very  orderly  and 
industrious  people,  live  in  harmony  with  each 

1  Temaux-Compans,   Castaiieda,    "Relation   du  Voyage   de 
Cibola,"  vol.  ix.  part  2d,  chaps,  iii.,  iv.,  v. 


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60 


THE  LAND   OP  THE   CLIFF-DWELLERS. 


other,  and  there  are  no  paupers  among  them. 
Their  original  weapons  were  the  bow  and  arrow. 
They  are  a  very  brave  people,  and  were  generally 
more  than  a  match  for  the  wild  Indians.  They 
are  very  superstitious,  and  are  firm  believers  in 
witchcraft  in  all  its  varieties.^ 

Tusayan,  or  the  Moqui  towns  are  more  inter- 
esting than  any  other  pueblos  existing  at  the  pres- 
ent day,  because  their  inhabitants  retain  most  of 
their  primitive  customs. 

Some  of  their  villages  are  very  picturesque, 
placed  as  they  are  upon  high  plateaus,  the  struc- 


1  Mr.  W.  H.  Davis,  "  El  Gringo,  or  New  Mexico  and  Her 
People,"  pp.  145,  146;  "Wheeler,  vol.  vii.,  ArchsEology,  pp.  317, 
320. 

Mr.  G.  Thompson,  topographer  of  the  expedition,  relates  in- 
teresting facts  in  regard  to  the  pueblos.  He  describes  them  as 
of  medium  height,  erect  and  graceful  in  bearing,  and  in  dispo- 
sition cordial  and  jovial.  "  In  figure  and  stature  the  people  of 
the  pueblos  are  noble-looking  and  beautifully  formed."  Accord- 
ing to  this  authority,  each  pueblo  town  had  its  own  art ;  some 
excelled  in  pottery-making,  others  in  weaving :  the  Moquis  were 
the  song-makers.  The  people  of  Jemez  even  went  to  Tusayan 
and  bought  songs.  In  regard  to  the  music  of  the  pueblos,  Dr. 
Fewkes  has  recently  succeeded  in  placing  upon  record  some  of 
the  songs  of  the  Zuhis.  On  one  of  his  expeditions  he  carried 
with  hira  a  phonograph,  and  exposed  it  to  the  singing  of  some 
of  the  tribe.  Mr.  Benjamin  Ives  Gilman  has,  with  the  aid  of  a 
harmonium,  taken  down  this  music,  and  lome  eighteen  pages 
of  it  are  published  in  the  "Journal  of  American  Ethnology 
and  Archaeology,"  vol.  i. 


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PUEBLO   TRIBES. 


61 


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tures  being  erected  upon  the  very  brink  of  preci- 
pices. These  houses  are  built  of  rubble-stone  of 
all  sizes,  from  two  to  ten  inches  in  diameter,  the 
wall  being  plastered  with  mud.  The  average  size 
of  the  rooms  is  twelve  feet  by  ten,  and  seven  feet 
high.  As  in  Coronado's  time,  the  women  own  the 
houses,  for  they  build  them  and  keep  them  in  re- 
pair. The  crops  also  belong  to  them  after  they 
are  housed.* 

The  land  in  the  valleys  at  the  foot  of  the  mesa 
is  owned  by  them  in  common,  a  member  of  the 
tribe  controlling  a  given  section  only  wliile  he 
keeps  it  under  cultivation.  There  are  many  estu- 
fas  in  the  different  villages,  and  in  some  of  these 
are  pictures  of  animals,  such  as  the  antelope,  and 
on  some  walls  are  pictographs  representing  clouds 
and  rainfall.  In  some  cases  these  colors  were 
red  and  blue.  Green  pigments  were  obtained 
from  carbonate  of  copper,  and  pitch  from  the  pinon 
tree.  Black  was  from  charcoal,  yellow  from  yel- 
low ochre  found  in  the  country,  and  the  white 
probably  from  kaolin.* 

Pottery-making  is  an  important  industry  among 
these  people,  the  old  squaws  doing  most  of  the 

1  "  The  Snake-dance  of  the  Moquis  of  Arizona,"  by  John  G. 
Bourke,  pp.  115,  261. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  120. 


62 


THE   LAND   OF  THE   CLIFF-DWELLERS. 


. 


work.  The  paste  is  made  of  marl  and  clay,  which 
is  mixed  with  water  and  tlien  with  finely  crushed 
fragments  of  old  pottery.  After  beinj,'  made  into 
the  desired  form  it  is  sun-dried  and  tlien  baked. 
It  is  not  glazed,  though,  on  account  of  polishinfr 
and  cleansing,  it  sometimes  has  this  appearance.^ 
Beautiful  baskets  are  also  made  in  Tusayan.  As 
with  other  Indian  tribes,  there  were  numerous 
clans  in  all  the  pueblo  villages.  There  are  eigh- 
teen of  these  among  the  Moquis,  bearing  such 
names  as  the  Eagle,  Corn,  Water,  Bear,  Deer, 
Coyote,  Koad-runner.2 

The  Moquis  have  many  very  singular  customs, 
one  of  the  more  marvellous  being  the  snake-dance, 
which  has  some  religious  significance,  in  which 
live  rattlesnakes  are  carried  in  the  mouths  of  the 
dancers.  They  are  a  very  superstitious  people,  be- 
lieving in  witches  and  witchcraft,  and  sing  hymns, 
ring  bells,  and  make  great  noises  ta  drive  away 
the  evil  spirits,  and  they  always  wear  a  talisman 
or  amulet.  Their  mythology  and  theology  are 
very  complex.     They  have  many  gods  and  idols. 

1  Bandelier,  vol.  iii.  p.  162.  This  writer  states,  *'The  pueblo, 
however,  knew  how  to  impart  a  certain  lustre  or  glaze  to  some 
of  the  decorations  on  his  earthern  ware,  and  this  art  is  lost."  I 
have  picked  up  many  fragments  among  cliff-dwellings  that  I  con- 
sidered as  glazed  ware. 

"  Bourke,  Snake-dance,  p.  117. 


'( 


PUEBLO   TRIBES. 


63 


The  idols  are  very  rough  in  form,  sometimes  repre- 
senting animals  such  as  the  bear  or  mountain  lion, 
or  grotesfjue  figures.^  Tlie  more  ugly  the  deity, 
the  more  sacred  it  is  in  the  eyes  of  the  people. 
The  cloud-god  Oma-a  is  one  of  the  more  impor- 
tant, because,  on  account  of  the  scarcity  of  rain- 
fall, they  pray  oftener  for  this  blessing  than 
for  any  other.  They  have  many  sacred  springs 
in  tlieir  country,  where  they  leave  their  votive 
offerings  of  sticks  and  prayer-plumes.^ 

Thus  we  have  a  picture  of  the  pueblo  tribes  of 
the  Southwest  as  given  by  the  early  Spanish  in- 
vaders and  recent  American  observers.  We  find, 
as  compared  with  the  wild  tribes  who  roamed 
throughout  the  broad  land,  that  they  were  a  sed- 
entary, peaceable  people,  trading  with  their  neigh- 
bors and  with  the  tribes  of  Sonora.  Living  as 
they  did,  in  their  almost  inaccessible  houses  of 

1  Bourke,  Snake-dance,  p.  131.  In  Tegua  they  had  wooden 
goda,  which,  after  serving  for  this  purpose,  were  given  to  the 
children  to  play  with  as  dolls. 

2  For  a  book  that  will  give  a  good  idea  of  the  life,  customs, 
and  beliefs  of  the  primitive  Pueblo  Indians,  I  would  refer  the 
reader  to  that  very  interesting  romance,  "  The  Delight  Makers," 
by  Adolf  F.  Bandelicr.  In  the  preface,  the  author  writes  : 
"This  story  is  the  result  of  eight  years  spent  in  ethnological  and 
archaeological  study  among  the  Pueblo  Indians  of  New  Mexico. 
...  By  clothing  sober  facts  iu  the  garb  of  romance,  I  have 
hoped  to  make  the  'truth  about  the  Pupblo  Indians'  more  ac- 
cessible, and  perhaps  more  acceptable,  tu  the  public  in  general." 


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THE   LAND   OP   THE   CLIFP-DWELLER8. 


stone  and  udobo,  they  wore  somewhat  protected 
from  tlie  fierce  Indians,  for  they  could  draw  up 
their  ladders  at  night,  and  sleep  in  comparative 
1  eace  and  security.  As  for  their  origin,  little  is 
known,  for  some  of  their  traditions  state  that  they 
came  from  the  West,  and  other  facts  lead  us  to 
think  tliat  certain  tribes,  within  a  few  centuries, 
occupied  canons  to  the  north.  Certain  it  is  that 
some  of  them  formerly  dwelt  in  cave  and  cliff- 
houses  in  the  caiions,  and  we  have  much  reason 
to  infer  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  two  classes  of 
dwellings  were  identical. 


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POTOSI    PEAK. 


CHAPTER  VII. 


EXPLORATION  IN   THE   SAN   JUAN   REGION. 


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IT  is  interesting  and  fascinating  to  read  the 
history  of  the  explorations  of  the  Spaniards 
in  Colorado,  and  trace  on  maps  their  routes  in  the 
mountainous  country;  yet  it  is  doubtful  if  they 
penetrated  into  the  heart  of  the  San  Juan  Moun- 
tains. The  best  authorities  seem  to  agree  that 
Coronado  did  not  even  enter  upon  the  present 
borders  of  southeastern  Colorado  in  his  famous 
march  eastward.  When  Onate  entered  New 
Mexico  in  1591,  he  established  a  colony  on  the 
Chama.  Thence  adventurers  penetrated  larther 
to  the  north,  exploring  for  gold  and  silver.*  We 
learn  of  other  explorations  in  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury, when  Cachupin  was  governor  of  New  Mex- 
ico.   The  mineral  wealth  of  the  San  Juan  country 

*  Shafts  of  their  ancient  mines  are  found  as  far  np  as  the  Rio 
Hondo  and  Colorado  in  New  Mexico,  and  even  betw*;en  the 
CuleLra  and  Trinchera  in  Southern  Colorado.  —  Historical 
Sketches  of  New  Mexico,  L.  B.  Prince  (second  edition,  1883), 
p,  164. 


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THE  LAND   OP  THE   CLIFF-DWELLERS. 


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was  the  loadstone  to  attract  these  adventurers. 
Afterwards,  in  1761,  Juan  Maria  Eivera  reached 
a  point  as  far  north  as  the  Gunnison  River. 

In  1776  Escalante,  accompanied  by  Don  Joa- 
quim  Lain,  who  had  been  with  Eivera,  visited 
Colorado.  He  crossed  the  southwestern  corner, 
journeying  from  Santa  ¥6  through  Abiquiu  to 
Nieves,  on  the  San  Juan  Eiver,  Some  of  the 
names  which  he  gave  have  been  retained  to  this 
day.  1 

The  early  history  of  New  Mexico  reads  like  a 
romance;  but  the  existence  of  the  primitive 
people,  and  the  fact  that  the  country  contained 
archaeological  remains  of  great  interest,  seems  to 
have  been  lost  sight  of  till  the  middle  of  the 
present  century,  when  exploring  parties  of  the 
United  States  Government  re-discovered,  as  it 
were,  the  homes  of  many  of  the  pueblos.^ 

1  The  eastern  section  of  the  La  Platte  Range  was  called  by 
Escalante  "Sierra  de  La  Grulla."  —  Bancroft,  vol.  xxx.  p.  339. 
The  La  Plata  River  he  called  the  San  Joaquin,  and  in  the 
ca&on,  says  his  nairative,  were  the  mines  sought  for  by  Cachu- 
pin's  explorers,  and  which  gave  the  name  to  the  mountains 
supposed  to  contain  silver.  —  Ibid.^  vol.  xxv.  p.  340. 

2  Notes  of  the  Military  Reconnoissance,  etc.,  Lieut. -Col.  W. 
H.  Emo'.y ;  Journal  of  a  Military  Eeconnoissance,  1846-47-48, 
Lieut.  J.  A.  Simpson;  J.  W.  Powell,  "  Scribner's  Monthly," 
Jan.,  Feb.,  March,  1875  ;  J.  W.  Powell,  Official  Report,  Exploia- 
tion  of  the  Colorado  River,  Washington,  1875  ;  J.  Gregg, 
Commerce  of  the  Prairies,  New  York,  1844. 


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EXPLORATION   IN   THE   SAN   JUAN   REGION.       67 


The  reports  of  these  explorations  so  far  as  they 
refer  to  archieology  deal  principally  with  inhabited 
dwellings  of  stone  and  adobe.  Lieutenant  Simp- 
son, however,  discovered  in  Chaco  Canon  deserted 
ruins  of  a  people  called  Cliff-Dwellers,  who  are 
presumed  to  be  the  ancestors  of  the  present 
Moquis  and   Zunis.* 

Mention  has  been  made  of  early  explorations, 
and  of  the  routes  taken  by  the  Spaniards  in  Colo- 
rado ;  but  it  is  doubtful  if  they  went  far  enough 
west  to  meet  any  traces  of  the  cliff-dwellings 
proper.  Subsequent  to  the  discoveries  in  New 
Mexico,  we  have  no  record  of  explorations  of 
importance  being  made  farther  to  the  north, 
within  the  limits  of  Colorado,  till  the  expe- 
dition of  Capt.  J.  N.  Macomb,  in  1859.  The 
published  documents  consist  mainly  of  the  re- 
port of  Dr.  J.  S.  Newberry,  which  was  almost 
entirely  confined  to  the  geology  of  the  country. 
Nevertheless,  he  visited  many  ruins  of  pueblos 
and  cliff-dwellings  ;  but  unfortunately,  though  he 
made  sketches  and  notes  at  the  time,  very  little 
relating  thereto  has  been  published.  He  has 
kindly  given  me  valuable  information  in  regard 

>  Dr.  Oscar  Leow,  in  Report  of  the  Chief  of  Engineers,  1875, 
gives  the  population  of  the  pueblos  at  that  time  as  eight  thousand. 
See  also  discoveries  by  Lieutenants  Whipple  and  Birnie,  recorded 
in  the  same  Report. 


'    I 


.1; 


■  ? 


i» 


68 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  CLIFF-DWELLERS. 


to  some  of  the  antiquities  visited,  especially  those 
on  the  San  Juan  River.  This  stream,  which  has 
its  source  in  Colorado,  runs  to  the  southwest  into 
New  Mexico,  and  after  making  a  great  bend  in 
that  territory,  it  flows  in  a  more  northerly  direc- 
tion, and  cuts  across  the  lower  corner  of  Colorado 
and  Utah.  Dr.  Newberry  found  that  from  the 
Caiion  Largo  in  New  Mexico  to  the  junction  of 
the  San  Juan  with  the  Colorado,  the  valley  was 
studded  with  ruins,  few  of  which  have  ever  been 
described.  They  are  either  in  open  valleys  or  on 
the  cliffs  and  buttes,  and  it  is  evident  that  every 
inch  of  the  valley  was  once  cultivated.  It  is  also 
probable  that  the  inhabitants  lived  in  fear  of 
attack  from  outside  enemies,  for  some  of  the 
buttes  were  crowned  with  defences.  These  de- 
fensive works  have  with  time  almost  entirely 
disappeared. 

In  the  printed  Report  cited  above,  Dr.  Newberry 
mentions  ruins  at  Surouaro,^  near  the  Dolores 

1  Surouaro  is  the  name  of  a  ruined  town  which  once  must 
have  contained  a  population  of  several  thousands.  The  name  is 
said  to  he  of  Indian  (Utah)  origin,  and  to  signify  "desolation  ;" 
and  certainly  no  better  name  could  have  been  selected.  .  .  . 
There  is  every  evidence  that  a  large  population  resided  here  for 
many  years,  perhaps  centuries,  and  that  they  deserted  it  several 
years  ago  ;  that  they  were  Pueblo  Indians,  and  hence  peaceful, 
industrious,  and  agricultural.  —  Capt.  J.  N.  Macomb  :  Report 
of  the  Exploring  Expedition,  etc.,  1859. 


EXPLORATION   IN  THE  SAN  JUAN  REGION.      69 


1 


River,  and  also  those  on  the  Animas  River  and  in 
Labyrinth  Canon.  Ho  also  described  a  town  of 
Los  Canones  on  the  Rio  Chama,  in  New  Mexico. 
In  regard  to  this,  he  has  given  me  added  informa- 
tion. The  ruined  town  of  Los  Canones  is  near 
Abiquiu  Peak.  It  is  situated  on  an  isolated 
rock  four  hundred  and  fifty  feet  high,  having 
abrupt  and  almost  perpendicular  sides,  with  an 
area  on  the  top  of  about  twenty  acres.  The  town 
was  entirely  built  of  blocks  of  trachyte  which  were 
quarried  at  the  bottom  of  the  rock.  Each  stone 
was  dressed  on  all  sides,  and  must  have  been 
transported  to  the  summit  on  the  shoulders  of  the 
workmen.  There  are  here  large  cisterns  which 
have  been  excavated  in  the  rock,  with  holes  sunk 
for  the  reception  of  posts,  which  supported  a  su- 
perstructure, —  doubtless  to  form  a  roof  to  collect 
rain-water.  The  wood-work  around  the  cisterns 
and  in  the  houses  of  the  village  has  entirely 
disappeared  by  process  of  decay.  Wlien  we  con- 
sider that  this  wood-work  was  mainly  cedar, 
which,  in  this  climate,  is  almost  imperishable, 
it  will  be  seen  that  the  town  of  Los  Canones  has 
been  abandoned  for  many  years. 

Later,  explorations  were  made  along  the  north- 
em  tributaries  of  the  San  Juan  River,  among  and 
under  the  shadow  of  the  great  mountains  that 


Mil 


I   ! 


-/ 


70 


THE   LAND  OP  THE   CLIFF-DWELLERS. 


bear  the  same  name.  In  these  early  days  the  San 
Juan  Mountains  were  as  wild  and  inaccessible  as 
any  mountain  region  in  the  West. 

This  great  uplift  is  not  a  single  range  or  series 
of  'mountain  chains,  but  is  composed  of  several 
clusters  of  great  peaks.  The  northern  portion, 
which  is  called  the  XJncompahgre  Mountains,  is 
formed  by  two  groups  which  lie  about  Uncom- 
pahgre  Peak  and  Mount  Snaefell.  Farther  to  the 
south  are  the  mighty  peaks  which  surround  Silver- 
ton  ;  and  rising  above  Animas  Canon  are  the  Nee- 
dle Mountains.  Still  farther  to  the  south  lie  the 
summits  which  go  to  make  up  the  Conejos  Range. 
Outlying  groups,  though  properly  considered  as 
belonging  to  the  San  Juan  system,  are  the  San 
Miguel  and  the  La  Plata  Mountains. 

From  XJncompahgre  Peak  in  the  north  to 
Conejos  Peaks  in  the  south,  both  lying  well 
within  the  system  of  the  Sierra  Mimbres,  as  the 
Spaniards  called  the  mountains,  is  a  distance 
of  some  seventy  miles.  From  Telluride,  on  the 
west,  to  Antelope  Park,  on  the  east,  is  a  breadth 
of  forty  miles.  Within  these  limits  are  found 
peaks  of  granite,  or  quartzite,  and  of  trachyte,  — 
many-hued  mountains  *  of  every  imaginable  form, 

1  In  Hayden's  Report,  1874,  F.  M.  Endlich,  geologist, 
writes  (p.  201)  of.  the  Rio  Giaude  Pyramid :   "  Weathering 


I 


i 


'it 


POTOSI     PEAK. 


EXPLORATION    IN   THE  SAN   JUAN   REGION.       71 

from  graceful  dome  to  tapering  spire.  There  are 
beautiful  mountain  tarns  and  foaming  torrents, 
deep,  rugged  canons,  and  peaceful  valleys. 

In  p.iiiong  these  several  groups  rise  the  Rio 
Grande  del  Norte,  Animas,  San  Juan,  Mancos, 
San  Miguel,  Dolores,  Uncompahgre,  and  otlier 
important  streams,  all  except  the  first  mentioned 
being  tributary  to  the  Colorado  River;  for  the 
Continental  Divide,  which  enters  Colorado  at 
about  106°  50'  west  longitude,  reaches  its  most 
western  point,  107°  35',  in  the  mountains  east  of 
Silverton,  leaving  most  of  the  higher  peaks  of  the 
San  Juan  ranges  on  the  Pacific  slope. 

Until  recently  the  valleys  in  among  these 
peaks  west  of  the  Great  Divide  were  very  diffi- 
cult of  access.  In  fact,  nothing  is  known  of  the 
connection  of  Americans  with  the  heart  of  the 
San  Juan  Mountains  and  southwestern  Colorado 
till  1860.  In  that  year  John  Baker  led  a  party 
of  mining  adventurers  from  Pueblo.  They  en- 
tered  the  country  from   the  south  from  Tierra 

•with  all  the  brilliancy  that  colors  originated  by  ferric-oxygen 
compounds  can  i)roduce,  it  presents,  in  its  variety  of  shades 
as  well  as  its  elongated  pyramidal  form,  one  of  the  most 
striking  features  of  the  valley.  But  a  short  distance  north- 
west of  this  mountain  are  the  sources  of  the  Rio  Grande, 
which  for  more  than  ninety  miles  flows  through  one  continuous 
area  of  volcanic  country." 


ii 


1 


72 


THE  LAND   OF  THE  CLIFF-DWELLERS. 


I2't 


Amarilla,  and  went  far  up  on  the  Rio  de  las 
Animas.  This  was  a  most  difficult  journey,  for 
the  Animas  flows  through  a  narrow  canon,  the 
Needle  Mountains  rising  above  with  precipitous 
walls. 

Baker's  Park,  which  has  its  name  from  the  in- 
trepid i)rospector,^  is  one  of  the  most  interesting 
valleys  in  this  locality.  It  is  as  isolated  as  any 
mountain  valley  can  be.  Except  by  way  of 
Animas  Caflon,  it  can  only  be  reached  by  cross- 
ing very  high  passes.  Its  elevation  is  9,202  feet 
above  sea-level.^  To  reach  the  summit  of  the 
several  passes  one  must  ascend  from  two  thousand 
to  three  thousand  feet.  It  was  into  this  park  that 
Baker  and  his  companions  were  driven  by  In- 
dians ;  some  escaped,  and  others  were  killed.* 

^  Baker  was  a  mountaineer  of  note.  He  liad  heard  from  the 
Navajos  and  other  Indians  that  the  royal  metal  existed  in  the 
mysterious  upper  regions  of  the  Sierra  Madre,  proof  of  which 
was  exhibited  in  ornaments  and  bullets  of  gold. — H.  H.  Ban- 
croft,  vol.  XXV.  p.  497. 

2  Denver  &  Rio  Grande  Railroad. 

'  Authorities  differ.  Rhoda  states  that  Baker  lost  his  life  in 
the  park  in  1862  (Ann.  Report  U.  S.  Geol.  &  Geog.  Survey,  F.  V. 
Hayden,  Washington,  1876  ;  Report  on  the  Topography  of  tlio 
San  Juan  Country,  by  Franklin  Rhoda,  Assistant  Topographer, 
pp.  465,  466).  Bancroft  states  that  *'  Baker  lived  to  be  a  wealthy 
cattle-owner,  and  to  organize  an  expedition  to  explore  the 
Grand  Cafiou  of  the  Colorado.  He  was  killed  at  the  entrance  to 
the  cafion"  (vol.  xxv.).  From  what  I  have  been  able  to  glean 
from  frontiersmen,  I  am  inclined  to  think  the  latter  authority 


i 


IN     ANIMAS    CANON. 


!      ' 


EXPLORATION   IN   THE   SAN  JUAN  REGION.       73 


The  Report  of  the  United  States  Geological  and 
Geographical  Survey  of  the  Territories  for  1874 
is  one  of  the  most  interesting  of  all  the  many 
valuable  works  issued  by  the  Government  press. 
Of  especial  interest  to  the  mountaineer  is  that 
part  of  the  volume  which  describes  the  San  I  uan 
Mountains. 

In  1873  the  Ute  Indians  released  to  the 
United  States  Government  the  right  to  all  the 
land  in  the  San  Juan  country  which  was  supposed 
to  be  of  value  for  mining  purposes.  It  was 
the  object  of  the  San  Juan  division  of  the  Sur- 
vey to  examine  the  region  and  determine  the 
value  of  the  lodes.  This  required  considerable 
mountain-climbing.^ 

The  party  consisted  of  A.  D.  Wilson,  topogra- 
pher directing,  F.  Rhoda,  his  assistant,  F.  M. 
Endlich,  geologist,  and  Mr.  Gallup,  barometric 
observer.  The  story  of  the  adventures  of  the 
party  is  very  interesting.  If  some  of  their  narra- 
tives could  be  unearthed  from  their  burial-place 
in  the  volumas  of  the  Survey  Report, — volumes 
which  are  out  of  print,  and  therefore  inaccessible 

correct,  witn  the  exception  of  the  statement  that  he  was  a 
•'  wealthy  cattle  owner." 

*  Dr.  Hayden  wrote:  ** "While  Colorado  has  furnished  soi 
many  districts  of  rugged  mountain  country,  the  one  surveyed  by^ 
this  party  during  1874  surpassed  all." 


74 


THE   LAND   OF   THE   CLIFF-DWELLERS. 


to  the  general  public,  —  and  illustrated  in  a  suit- 
able manner,  a  book  of  surpassing  interest  could 
be  made.  They  made  the  ascent  of  many  peaks, 
most  of  them  previously  unascended,  but  were 
surprised  to  find  a  cairn  on  Rio  Grande  Pyramid, 
and  thus  to  learn  that  some  unknown  climber 
had  forestalled  them.  They  met  grislies  and 
big-horns,  and  were  caught  in  electrical  storms 
which  interfered  with  their  work. 

How  changed  all  this  is  since  those  explora- 
tions !  Then  the  country  was  very  wild,  though 
here  and  there  in  the  parks  and  on  the  mountain 
sides  were  seen  the  picturesque  cabins  of  the 
frontiersmen  ;  now  the  log-house  is  giving  way 
to  homely  board  structures,  and  the  picturesque 
"  wicky-ups "  of  the  Utes  and  the  cabins  of  the 
squatters  are  being  succeeded  by  the  unpoetical 
and  commonplace  product  of  the  saw-mill.  Such 
is  notably  the  case  at  Silverton,  the  principal 
mining  town  in  Baker's  Park.  Surrounded  by  a 
noble  array  of  grand  peaks,  —  Mount  Kendall, 
King  Solomon,  Galena,  Sultan,  Bowlder,  Bear, 
and  other  giants,  —  the  village,  itself  the  fore- 
ground of  the  picture,  is  made  up  of  cheap  and 
ordinary  buildings. 

In  1874-76,  important  archaeological  explora- 
tions were  conducted,  especially  in  Colorado,  by 


^ 


EXPLORATION   IN   THE  SAN   JUAN   REGION.       75 


members  of  Hayden's  Survey.^  Mr.  William  H. 
Holmes,^  geologist  of  the  San  Juan  division,  ex- 
amined many  ruins  in  the  valleys  and  upon  the 
cliffs.  Mr.  W.  H.  Jackson,  the  skilful  photog- 
rapher of  the  Survey,  made  a  very  thorough 
search  for  architectural  remains  in  Mancos,  Mc- 
Elmo,  Hovenweep,  and  Montezuma  Canons,  and 
in  the  Chaco  Canon,  in  northern  New  Mexico, 
had  the  fortune  to  find  a  skull  which  belonged  to 
the  race  of  Cliff-Dwellers.  The  illustrations  made 
from  Mr.  Jackson's  admirable  photographs  at- 
tracted great  attention  to  these  marvellous  ruins ; 
but  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  ground  cov- 
ered  by  these   remains   is  extensive,  embracing 

1  Hayden's  Report  for  1876,  p.  383.  Mr.  Holmes's  territory 
covered  six  thousand  square  miles  (Hayden's  Report  for  1875 )k 
Dr.  F.  M.  £ndlich  examined  the  ruins  in  the  valley  of  the  Rio 
de  las  Animas. 

*  Pottery  of  the  Ancient  Pueblos,  by  William  H.  Holmes, 
Washington,  1886,  p.  315  :  "  In  a  number  of  ways  the  valley  of 
the  Rio  San  Juan  possesses  unusual  interest  to  the  antiquarian. 
Until  within  the  latter  half  of  the  nineteenth  century  it  re- 
mained wholly  unknown.  The  early  Spanish  expeditions  are  not 
known  to  have  penetrated  its  secluded  precincts,  and  its  clitf- 
houses,  its  ruined  pueblos,  and  curious  towers  have  been  so  long 
deserted  that  it  is  doubtful  whether  even  a  tradition  of  their 
occupation  has  been  preserved,  either  by  the  nomadic  tribes  of 
the  district  or  by  the  modern  pueblos  of  the  south.  Certain 
it  is  that  no  foreign  hand  has  influenced  the  art  of  this  district, 
and  no  Spanish  adventurer  has  left  traces  of  his  presence." 


76 


THE  LAND   OP  THE   CLIFF-DWELLERS. 


a  section  of  several  thousand  square  miles,  and 
only  a  small  area  of  so  large  a  territory  could  be 
explored  in  three  summers.  In  those  early  days, 
too,  the  travellers  were  exposed  to  all  manner  of 
hardships,  were  far  from  a  base  of  supplies,  and 
were  at  times  in  danger  from  hostile  Indians. 
Thus  it  was  with  the  region  about  Mancos  Canon, 
in  which  gorge  many  very  interesting  ruins  were 
discovered,  and  which  locality  gives,  perhaps, 
the  finest  examples  of  the  remains  of  works  of 
masonry  in  the  West.  The  explorers  had  time 
only  to  enable  them  to  pass  through  the  main 
canon,  while  recent  developments  have  shown 
that  the  side  gorges,  or  tributary  cafions,  contained 
by  far  the  grandest  ruins  of  the  lost  people. 

I  have  endeavored,  in  these  preliminary  pages, 
to  give  the  reader  an  account  of  explorations  in 
the  Southwest,  and  of  some  of  the  results  already 
obtained.  Though  the  country  has  been  known 
and  partially  occupied  for  over  three  centuries, 
still  there  ^re  large  fields  that  have  not  been  ex- 
plored at  all,  and  many  sections  would  undoubtedly 
prove  as  interesting  in  the  way  of  new  develop- 
ments as  any  yet  investigated. 

The  following  pages  will  present  the  story  of 
wanderings  in  a  limited  district,  where  I  have 


EXPLORATION   IN  THE  SAN   JUAN  REGION.       77 

passed  many  very  pleasant  days  among  the  moun- 
tains and  canons.  There  still  remain  multitudes 
of  gorges  and  remote  valleys  almost  entirely 
unknown,  and  the  amateur  explorer  who  shall 
essay  to  take  part  in  future  explorations  will 
find  much  to  employ  and  entertain  him. 


:i  -    . 

1 

,  i 

Vi 


I) 


II 
[  i 


15 


a 


' » 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

t.    ■  .'  ''  .\    - 

THE   SAN  JUAN   MOUNTAINS. 

MY  first  entrance  into  the  wonderland  of  the 
cliff-dwellings  was  effected  by  way  of  the 
towering  mountains  that  form  its  northern  bul- 
wark. The  spires  of  the  San  Juan  ranges  had 
exercised  a  powerful  fascination  upon  me  from 
the  moment  I  first  beheld  them  from  far  to  the 
eastward,  in  scaling  the  savage  ar§tes  of  Sierra 
Blanca.  The  spell  became  more  fixed  when,  after 
a  year's  interval,  emerging  from  the  caiion  of  the 
Gunnison,  I  saw  their  snowy  summits  piercing 
the  blue  sky  only  a  score  of  miles  to  the  south- 
ward. It  was  at  its  maximum  as,  leaving  the 
main  transcontinental  line  at  Montrose,  our  little 
train  sped  directly  toward  them,  giving  us  con- 
stant views,  now,  on  the  left,  of  the  castellated 
ridges  of  mighty  Uncompahgre,  now,  on  the  right, 
of  the  great  peaks  about  Ouray,  culminating  in 
Mount  Snaefell,  whose  form  was  barely  traceable 
through  the  smoky  haze  that  seemed  to  magnify 


\ 


1; 


I  ; 


» 


W 


; 


MOUNT   SNAEFEL. 


I' 


i    I 


THE  SAN  JUAN  MOUNTAINS. 


79 


i  '• 


its  altitude.  As  at  length  we  drew  near  the  min- 
ing town  that  boasts  the  most  remarkable  site  in 
the  land,  the  early  darkness  of  a  September  night 
had  fallen,  and  we  could  see  nothing  of  the  grand 
scenery  about  us;  but  we  knew  that  far  above 
the  glimmering  lights  which  shone  from  the 
camps  of  the  miners  on  the  hillsides  the  great 
peaks  were  waiting. 

We  had  several  addresses  to  look  up,  as  it  was 
our  first  visit  to  Ouray  ^  and  we  wished  to  obtain 
some  information  in  regard  to  the  mountains ;  but 
as  name  after  name  was  read  from  our  list,  they 
were  checked  as  sick  or  absent.  The  courteous 
proprietor  of  the  Hotel  Beaumont,  however,  on 
learning  the  purpose  of  our  visit  and  that  our 
bent  was  mountain-climbing,  informed  us  that 
Dr.  F.  M.  Endlich  was  stopping  at  that  inn.  I 
was  delighted,  knowing  as  I  did  of  his  excellent 
work  as  one  of  the  geologists  of  Hayden's  staff, 
and  being  sure  that  no  man  knew  the  country 
better.  We  were  presented  to  him,  very  kindly 
received,  and  made  still  more  joyful  by  being  in- 
vited to  ride  with  him  high  into  the  range  the 
next  day.    The  object  of  his  journey  was  to  start 


ii 


> 


' 


1  My  friend  Mr.  Charles  P.  Howard  was  my  companion  on 
this  and  other  excursions  among  the  San  Juan  Mountains  and 
the  ca&ons  to  the  south. 


THE  LAND   OP  THE  CLIFF-DWELLERS. 


some  delving  operations  at  the  Yankee  Boy 
mine. 

The  day  following,  we  were  off  early,  riding  up 
the  Snaefell  Toll  road,  through  a  magnificent  canon 
above  a  roaring  brook.  All  along  our  morning's 
ride  were  beautiful  views  of  peaks  and  valleys. 
The  road  is  well  built,  and  skirts  the  sides  of  the 
mountains  high  up  on  their  flanks.  After  riding 
about  two  hours,  the  way  turns  to  the  right,  and 
high  above  us,  blocking  the  end  of  the  valley,  we 
saw  Stony  Peak,  a  beautiful  diorite  mountain : 
we  little  dreamed  that  we  should  reach  a  point 
beyond  it  that  day.  Its  solid,  rocky  slopes  give 
it  the  appearance  of  a  greater  altitude  than  it 
really  attains.  A  half  hour  farther  on  we  came 
to  a  place  under  Potosi  Peak  where  a  log-house 
had  stood  for  six  years,  but  was  carried  away  by 
an  avalanche  a  year  after  its  desertion.  On  the 
sides  of  the  mountains,  a  little  below  this  point, 
are  grand  exhibitions  of  havoc  wrought  by  ava- 
lanches. Earth-slides  had  ploughed  a  way 
through  great  forests  in  broad,  regular  sweeps, 
leaving  the  ground  clean  and  bare  of  trees. 

At  11.30  we  reached  a  ranch,  or  mining  camp 
(Porter's),  which  is  put  down  on  the  map  as  a 
town.^     On  the  opposite  side  of  the  river  is  the 

1  Mount  Sneifels. 


\ 


THE   SAN   JUAN    MOUNTAINS. 


81 


entrance  to  a  tunnel,  which  is  eight  feet  high  and 
nine  wide.  It  has  already  heen  extended  thir- 
teen hundred  feet  into  the  lieart  of  the  mountain  ; 
it  will  strike  the  shaft  of  the  Virginius  mine  at 
a  depth  of  nineteen  hundred  feet,  and  will  he 
considerably  more  than  a  mile  in  length.  Now 
the  peaks  on  the  left  showed  splendid  towers 
and  sharp  pinnacles.  Dr.  Endlich  informed  us 
that  the  ridges  had  proved  too  jagged  to  allow  of 
a  survey  line  to  be  run  over  their  summits. 

The  wagon-road  ends  at  Porter's,  and  burro  and 
mule  trains  do  all  the  packing  from  this  point  up 
and  down  from  the  "  Yankee  Boy,"  "  Virginius," 
and  otlier  mines.  They  also  are  kept  going  all 
the  distance  from  Ouray. 

At  11.45  we  left  the  more  travelled  road  which 
leads  to  the  Virginius  mine,  and  followed  a  trail 
leading  to  the  "Yankee  Boy."  At  noon  we 
passed  the  "  Ruby  Trust."  Just  below,  in  a  little 
valley  where  much  grass  grows,  is  a  milk  ranch. 
The  demand  from  the  mining  camps  has  called 
such  an  industry  into  existence,  and  a  dozen  or 
more  cows  pick  a  subsistence  among  the  black- 
willows  which  grow  by  the  torrents.  Passing 
these  pastoral  groups,  we  left  the  tinkling  of  cow- 
bells, and  rode  through  interesting  scenes.  On 
rock-beds  by  the  trail  were  marks  of  glacial  scor- 


i 


! 


82 


THR   LAND   OP  THE  CLIFF-DWELLERS. 


ing,  and  high  (ibove  us  on  the  peaks  to  the  right 
were  splintered  crags.  One  spire  had  a  l)ig  hole 
in  it,  through  which  the  blue  sky  showed. 

About  noon  we  reached  the  **  Yankee  Boy " 
camp,  which  consists  of  two  very  pretty  log-cabins 
near  the  stream.  Here  Dr.  Endlich  rested  for  a 
short  while,  to  direct  the  work  of  some  miners 
who  were  about  to  open  a  shaft.  Wo  were  not 
long  delayed,  however,  but  continued  on  and  up. 
In  about  an  hour  we  reached  timber  lino,  and 
at  1.15  the  summit  of  Treasury  Hill  (elevation 
12,125  feet),  —  a  grassy  alp  from  whoso  top  is  ob- 
tained splendid  panoramic  views  of  the  encircling 
snow-peaks.  These  snow-caps  occupy  nearly 
300°  of  the  horizon,  and  at  the  observer's  back  is 
the  dark  wall  of  the  Snaefell  group.  Wo  spent 
much  time  in  taking  photographs,  securing  six- 
teen pictures;  six  of  these  represent  the  pano- 
ramic view. 

Treasury  Hill  is  well  suited  for  the  location  of 
a  mountain  inn.  It  is  easy  of  access,  for  a  good 
road  could  be  built  to  the  summit;  there  is 
plenty  of  water  to  be  found,  for  the  turf  is  springy. 
The  region  is  very  attractive.  The  many  un- 
named peaks  are  marked  by  a  grace  and  beauty 
all  peculiar  to  themselves.  But  for  one  reason, 
their  charm  to  the  mountaineer  would  be  un- 


>      1 


X 

n 


o 

m 

n 
m 


II 


h 


. 


THE   SAN   JUAN   MOUNTAINS, 


equalled  by  any  other  range  in  the  State  ;  but  the 
ever-present  prospect-hole,  found  up  to  an  eleva- 
tion of  thirteen  thousand  feet,  gives  the  traveller 
a  feeling  that  he  is  not  in  a  very  wild  country, 
and  that  he  has  been  preceded  by  many.  The 
appearance  was  so  different  from  what  I  had  met 
with  in  other  remote  parts  of  the  Colorado  ranges 
that  I  was  struck  with  it  on  my  first  trip  from 
Ouray.  This  leads  me  to  emphasize  a  statement 
that  I  have  often  made  before,  —  that  wherever 
minerals  do  not  abound  in  the  higher  Rockies, 
there,  when  away  from  trails,  the  traveller  may 
rest  assured  that  few  have  been  ahead  of  him, 
and  in  many  cases  he  may  well  feel  that  he  is 
a  pioneer.  But  here,  at  the  base  of  the  final 
cone  of  Mount  Snaefell  and  the  adjoining  peaks, 
we  observed  prospectors'  openings,  and  stakes 
marking  claims  were  set  in  many  places  on  the 
grass  slopes  of  Treasury  Hill. 

Looking  to  the  south  of  Treasury  Hill,  one  sees 
a  grand  peak  which  towers  up  from  a  placid  gla- 
cial lakelet.  Sweeping  down  from  near  the  sum- 
mit come  great  ridges  of  sand  and  debris  which 
seem  to  show  the  path  of  an  ancient  glacier.  The 
lake  is  in  a  deep  hollow,  and  is  a  wild  spot.  Ris- 
ing above  it  on  the  west  are  the  serrated  ridges 
of  Snaefell.      When  the  waters  are  calm  these 


1| 


84 


THE  LAND   OF  THE   CLIFF-DWELLERS. 


pinnacles  are  mirrored  in  the  lake,  and  the  effect 
is  beautiful,  One  of  the  finest  photographs  which 
I  ever  obtained  in  the  Rockies  was  secured  at 
this  place. 

Leaving  Treasury  Hill  at  3.15  P.  m.,  we  reached 
Ouray  at  dark,  riding  part  of  the  way  at  a  lively 
gait.  When  the  little  town  came  into  view,  it 
was  lighted  up ;  and  high  on  the  mountain  sides 
around,  little  glimmerings  showed  from  the  min- 
ing camps  like  answering  beacons. 

One  result  of  our  preliminary  excursion  was  the 
making  the  acquaintance  of  a  miner,  a  contractor 
and  prospector  of  Ouray,  who  was  at  that  time 
engaged  by  Dr.  Endlich.  He  had  been  up  Mount 
Snaefell  six  years  before.  He  offered  to  go  up  this 
peak  with  us,  and  help  carry  our  photographic 
apparatus. 

The  morning  following  we  spent  in  climbing 
steep  hillsides  about  Ouray.  This  valley  is  in  a 
hole,  if  ever  any  town  was.  It  is  built  on  the  bed 
of  an  ancient  glacier  above  the  terminal  moraine. 
It  is  surrounded  on  all  sides,  save  the  narrow  en- 
trance to  the  north,  by  steep  wooded  slopes,  which 
one  must  ascend  but  a  short  distance  to  catch 
sight  of  the  noble  peaks  which  lie  back  of  them. 

In  the  village  we  took  pictures  of  burros  and 
mule-trains,  and  on  the  hillsides  views  of  log- 


/ 


c 
z 

n 

c 


> 

X 

o 
.J 
m 

m 
> 
7^ 


II 


' ''  11 


'\  ! 


♦•;, 


'1 
I; 


i'l 


I , 


■■■■■«■■ 


THE  SAN  JUAN  MOUNTAINS. 


houses  and  cabins.  While  among  the  hills,  tre- 
mendous blasts  were  heard  above  us,  and  rocks 
came  crashing  down  the  slides,  and  fainter  reports 
reverberated  from  the  opposite  mountain  slopes. 
All  day  long  in  our  ramblings  we  realized  that  the 
miner  was  at  work  in  the  mountains,  and  shaft- 
holes  were  seen  everywhere  high  up  on  the  cliffs. 

There  are  beautiful  trees  about  Ouray ;  but  the 
axe  is  already  at  work,  and  the  town-folk  must 
look  out  for  the  future,  before  it  is  too  late  to  pre- 
serve the  forests. 

In  the  afternoon  we  rode  on  horses  to  Porter's 
camp.  This  place,  as  I  have  stated,  is  located  on 
the  map  as  a  village.  There  is  a  store,  over  which 
is  a  loft  in  which  are  several  beds ;  one  of  these 
was  placed  at  our  disposal.  An  addition  to  the 
building  is  used  by  the  proprietor  as  a  dwelling 
place.  Next  the  store  is  a  small  house  where 
meals  are  served  to  the  mule-drivers  and  miners. 
Besides  these  is  a  large  barn  and  a  long,  low  build- 
ing which  is  used  for  the  storage  of  ores.  This 
constitutes  the  town  of  "  Sneffles  Mount."  The 
distance  from  Ouray  by  the  road  is  seven  miles ; 
the  elevation  above  sea-level  is  about  10,950  feet, 
or  3,310  feet  above  Ouray. 

We  enjoyed-  our  stay  at  this  mining  camp, 
watching  the  mule  and  burro  trains,  and  talking 


n 


;!} 


11 


86 


THE   LAND   OP  THE  CLIFF-DWELLERS. 


with  the  miners.  A  little  way  above  the  camp 
we  were  the  observers  of  an  approaching  line  of 
pack-mules,  all  loaded  with  ore  from  the  Virgin- 
ius  mine.  One  of  the  animals  took  it  into  his 
head  to  cross  the  stream  and  wander  among  the 
scrub  growth  upon  the  opposite  side.  Several  of 
his  companions  followed,  and  the  driver,  in  en- 
deavoring to  "  round  them  up,"  caused  a  general 
stampede,  and,  as  a  result,  a  couple  of  packs  be- 
came loosened,  and  trouble  was  in  store  for  the 
tired  drivers.  The  burden  of  one  mule  revolved 
to  a  position  under  his  belly,  and  naturally  a 
furious  spell  of  bucking  and  kicking  resulted.  It 
seemed  as  if  that  mule  would  destroy  himself  in 
his  stupidity.  He  thrashed  around  till  the  ore 
was  got  rid  of,  and  finally  so  entangled  himself 
in  the  ropes,  cinches,  and  saddle-gearing  that  he 
fell  in  the  middle  of  the  stream,  and,  lying  on 
his  back,  continued  to  kick  the  air. 

Later  at  the  camp  we  were  treated  to  an  exhi- 
bition of  horse-training.  A  cow-boy,  who  had 
left  the  joys  of  ranch  life  to  spend  his  days  in 
holes  in  the  earth,  undertook  to  mount  and  ride 
a  bucking  broncho  that  had  hitherto  kept  all  ven- 
turesome riders  at  a  distance.  A  worse  place 
could  not  have  been  selected  in  which  to  attempt 
to  curb  the  spirit  of  such  a  beast.     There  was 


"-"T'TF'  •'--■■— •"s'^w'wr' 


CABIN     IN     THE     SAN     JUAN     MOUNTAINS. 


•r^ 


i 


i  ' 

i  i 

I 


II 


THE  SAN   JUAN    MOUNTAINS. 


87 


some  commotion  and  excitement,  at  the  start, 
while  the  horseman  endeavored  to  get  astride  the 
steed ;  for  he  was  driven  back  by  the  mustang, 
who  let  fly  with  hind  legs,  his  heels  making  a  sort 
of  quiver  and  snap  as  they  reached  for  the  in- 
tended victim.  Later  efforts  were  more  success- 
ful, and  the  trainer  was  soon  firmly  seated.  The 
enraged  animal  snorted,  plunged,  and  reared,  but 
was  unable  to  throw  the  rider,  and  in  a  fit  of  des- 
peration took  the  bit  between  his  teeth  and  dashed 
away.  Open,  clear  space  was  limited,  and  in  a 
blind  manner  the  mustang  mounted  a  pile  of  lum- 
ber, and  then  crossed  a  stack  of  logs,  in  among 
which  we  expected  to  see  him  break  his  legs  and 
dash  his  rider  among  the  timbers.  Coming  out 
of  this  difficulty  in  safety,  he  then  took  to  the 
woods,  where  the  cow-boy  risked  being  struck  off 
at  every  moment  by  the  branches  of  the  forest. 
He  finally  guided  him  into  the  road  again,  where 
horse  and  rider  came  down  together  in  the  dusty 
highway.  Picking  himself  up,  the  broncho  dashed 
off ;  but  the  cow-boy  clung  to  the  end  of  the  rope, 
and  was  dragged  through  the  stream,  —  a  moun- 
tain torrent  which  ran  near  by.  He  held  to  the 
fiery  steed,  and  the  onlooking  miners  and  mule 
drivers  joining  in,  the  combined  weight  of  so  many 
strong  men  checked  the  onward  motion  of  the 


m 


I 


i 


m^m^^tmrmm 


88 


THE  LAND   OF  THE   CLIFF-DWtXLERS. 


galloping  horse,  and  he  was  brought  to  a  stand- 
still. One  of  the  miners  now  stej)ped  forward, 
took  oil"  his  coat  and  bound  it  around  the  head  of 
the  broncho,  and  after  a  little  more  fun  the  l)east 
was  cowed,  and  trotted  up  and  down  the  road  at 
the  beck  of  his  new  master. 

I  had  had  some  experience  with  bucking  bron- 
chos. Once  in  the  Northern  Rockies  I  used  such 
a  beast,  —  the  kind  that  must  be  saddled  and  un- 
saddled with  the  greatest  of  care.  One  day,  after 
a  long  ride,  1  dismounted,  opened  my  camera  box, 
which  was  strapped  to  the  saddle,  and  carefully 
removed  the  instruments ;  but  the  animal,  look- 
ing around  with  his  bad  eye,  saw  the  cover  of 
the  box  projecting  from  his  sides,  and  began 
a  terrible  dance.  Levels,  compass,  diaphragms, 
barometer,  tripod,  and  plates  were  distributed  far 
and  wide,  so  that  we  were  able  to  follow  the 
trail  by  the  scattered  remains.  Dashing  between 
two  trees  without  considering  the  consequences, 
the  broncho  pursued  his  way.  The  box  was 
knocked  to  pieces,  and  not  until  several  searches 
had  been  made  did  we  find  the  cover.  Again,  in 
another  district,  I  rode  an  animal  that  in  his 
plunges  would  land  my  nose  on  the  soft  place  on 
the  top  of  his  head,  between  his  ears,  and  would 
endeavor  to  throw  me  ofif  at  the  brink  of  every 


/ 


\\ 


•    Hi 


< 

-  1H 
J'  I 


MOUNT    SNAEFEL 


9 


THE   SAN  JUAN   MOUNTAINS. 


89 


precipice  that  we  had  occasion  to  pass ;  but  in  all 
my  experience  I  never  saw  such  a  bucker  as  this 
one  in  the  San  Juan  Mountains.  During  the 
eveninj^,  at  the  supper  board,  and  in  j,'athering 
knots  of  men  after  tliis  meal  was  despatched, 
the  conversation  was  about  the  cow-boy's  feat, 
and  his  prowess  was  extolled  on  all  sides. 

So  late  in  the  season  the  mornings  were  dark 
and  cold,  so  that  we  could  not  make  very  eavly 
starts.  On  this  occasion  we  did  not  leave  Porter's 
till  6.50.  As  on  the  day  l)efore,  we  passed  in- 
teresting cabins  and  funny  burros.  Of  the  pres- 
ence of  one  of  these  comical  animals  we  knew 
nothing,  except  that  two  ears  were  sticking  up 
over  a  ridge. 

At  the  "  Yankee  Boy  "  camp  we  found  our  miner 
waiting  for  us.  He  followed  us  on  foot,  and  we 
gained  the  summit  of  Treasury  Hill  at  8.30 
o'clock.  Here  we  fastened  our  horses  to  bowlders, 
divided  our  packs  into  three  parcels,  and  made 
for  a  gully  which  leads  up  to  a  notch  between 
Mount  Snaefell  and  a  peak  to  the  east  In  a  few 
minutes  we  were  on  a  great  bowlder-field.  On 
the  opposite  side  of  it  we  observed  a  couple  of 
badgers  among  the  rocks.  Crossing  the  maze  of 
huge  blocks,  we  scrambled  over  a  big  moraine 
and  descended  into  the  trough.    Above  us  loomed 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  CLIFF-DWELLERS. 

the  crags  of  a  splendid  ar§te.  We  left  part  of 
our  packs  and  some  of  our  plate-holders  at  this 
point,  and  started  on  our  journey  skyward.  The 
view  began  to  grow  more  and  more  imposing,  and 
the  ascent  steeper.  The  savage  arete  fell  below 
us,  and  we  could  look  over  its  spires  to  distant 
ranges.  At  10  30  o'clock  we  reached  the  notch, 
and  looked  down,  in  a  northeasterly  direction, 
upon  a  branch  of  the  south  fork  of  the  Dallas 
River.  We  rested  for  ten  minutes  at  this  point, 
for  which  our  barometer  indicated  an  elevation 
of  1 5,835  feet  Turning  directly  to  the  left,  or 
northwest,  we  entered  a  second  gully,  which  was 
about  thirty  feet  wide.  Steep  walls  rose  above  us 
en  both  sides.  We  climbed  in  this  narrow  canon 
for  thirty-five  minutes,  when  we  gained  a  second 
notch,  which  was  filled  with  snow.  Carefully 
climbing  the  cornice  of  ice,  we  obtained  another 
fine  view  into  the  Dallas  valley. 

Now  some  uncertainty  entered  into  our  work. 
The  miner  tried  to  get  up  a  gully  by  which  he 
thought  he  had  ascended  six  years  before  ;  he  did 
not  succeed.  I  tried  another,  which  looked  feasi- 
ble, and  after  ten  minutes'  climbing  reached  a 
ledge  from  which  I  saw  an  easy  route  to  the  sum- 
mit. Our  only  trouble  now  was  from  loose  rocks. 
The  whole  summit  seems  to  be  falling  to  pieces  ; 


\ 


THE  SAN   JUAN   MOUNTAINS. 


91 


great  blocks  rest  on  insecure  foundations,  and  the 
slightest  disturbance  sends  them  bounding  down 
the  mountain  side.  I  narrowly  escaped  a  serious 
accident,  by  the  giving  away  of  what  I  supposed 
to  be  a  firm  rock,  and  a  second  and  third  clutch 
did  but  start  other  unstable  stones  to  add  to  the 
clatter  begun.  A  fourth  grab,  however,  stopped 
my  fall,  and  I  came  out  with  no  other  harm  than 
a  few  scratches.  At  the  present  time,  with  no 
particular  route  laid  out,  there  is  just  enough 
sharp  climbing  on  the  peak  to  make  the  ascent 
interesting;  yet  every  side  of  the  mountain 
appears  to  present  the  same  difficulties.  The  first 
climbers  seem  to  have  had  a  hard  time  of  it. 
Khoda  speaks  of  it  as  the  "  hardest  climb  of  the 
season"  (1874),  and  further  states  that  "the  first 
half  of  the  height  was  very  steep,  but  neither  so 
tiresome  nor  so  dangerous  as  the  last  half." 

We  reached  the  sum.mit  at  11. 45  o'clock.  The 
air  was  clear,  though  the  smoke  of  forest  fires  in 
Montana,  which  a  continued  north  wind  had 
brought  into  Colorado,  interfered  with  distant 
,  views  to  the  north.  The  air  was  at  rest  during 
the  one  and  three-quarter  hours  which  we  spent 
on  the  peak ;  it  was  also  warm  and  comfonable. 

After  a  short  survey  of  the  surrounding  coun- 
try, we  took  six  pictures  from  the  highest  rocks. 


-.1 


ssmsa 


\ 


92 


THE  LAND   OF  THE   CLIFF-DWELLERS. 


I 


The  negatives,  when  developed,  proved  to  be  very 
good,  and  would  have  been  much  finer  but  for  the 
lack  of  cloud  effect  and  the  hazy  aspect  of  the  sky. 
This  fault  followed  us  all  through  the  San  Juan 
Peaks,  except  about  Silverton. 

Snaefell  has  a  good  top,  just  enough  space  for 
one  to  move  around  easily  and  enjoy  the  view  in 
all  directions.  Before  leaving  Ouray  we  laid  out 
on  a  cardboard  compass  bearings  and  distances  of 
all  important  peaks  lying  within  a  hundred  and 
twenty-five  miles  of  our  mountain,  and  thus  we 
were  able  to  identify  many  of  the  visible  points. 

Looking  immediately  down  upon  the  north 
side,  one  sees  a  deep  gulf,  which  is  described  by 
Lieutenant  Khoda  in  Hayden's  Keport.  This 
recalls  the  manner  of  naming  the  peak.  Dr. 
Endlich  was  standing  in  the  abyss  with  one  com- 
panion, who  compared  it  to  the  great  hole  de- 
scribed by  Jules  Verne  in  his  "Journey  to  the 
Centre  of  the  Earth."  Dr.  Endlich  agreed  with 
him,  and,  pointing  to  the  great  peak  above,  ex- 
claimed, "  There  's  Snaefell."  Thus  the  peak  got 
its  name,  though  it  is  pronounced  by  the  people  of 
the  valley  as  "  Sneffels,"  and  it  is  so  written  on 
the  maps  and  in  the  tables  of  the  Coast  Survey ; 
wherefore  it  is  part  of  the  aim  of  this  chapter 
to  put  on  record  the  true   designation,  named 


\ 


-— w<gr  nJMipwi.',.^..!iiB  iWMwrW W— MeiiT">T" 


< 


•  i3:*v 


AN     ARETE    OF     MOUNT     SNAEFEL. 


■•',   I 


'i.  ■ 


:  f^: 


THE  SAN   JUAN   MOUNTAINS. 


98 


after  the  Icelandic  mountain  Snaefell,  lest  ere 
long  the  grand  summit  be  called  "  Sniffles."  It 
is  noticeable  that  already  the  inhabitants  of 
the  valley  have  a  strong  tendency  toward  this 
pronunciation. 

Mount  Snaefell  is  admirably  placed  for  a  view- 
point. On  the  north  is  the  valley  of  the  Dallas 
River,  stretching  far  down  to  the  mesa  country 
about  Montrose.  To  the  west  are  Lone  Cone,  the 
San  Miguel  Mountains,  Mount  Wilson,  Dolores, 
and  Lizzard  Peaks  ;  *  to  the  east,  the  Uncompahgre 
group,  with  its  marvellous  castellated  ridges,  the 
main  peak  overtopping  all  ;  ^  to  the  southeast,  the 
peaks  about  Silverton ;  back  of  these,  the  sharp 
points  of  the  Needle  Mountains ;  and  far  beyond, 
many  peaks  unrecognizable  and  unnamed.  In  the 
distance,  south,  we  made  out  the  La  Plata  Moun- 
tains, with  Hesperis  Peak,  which  dominates  a 
valley  which  we  hoped  to  know  better  in  a  few 

^  The  San  Miguel  district  is  described  as  very  picturesque  ; 
Mount  Wilson,  the  dominant  peak,  is  one  of  the  most  massive 
in  Colorado.  East  of  this  mountain  is  the  remarkable  trachyte 
obelisk  called  Lizzard's  Head,  The  summit  is  13,160  feet  above 
the  sea.  From  a  noble  pedestal  the  pinnacle  rises  290  feet, 
with  a  diameter  at  the  base  of  only  about  60  feet :  (Hayden's 
Report,  1874,  F.  M.  Endlich,  p.  207). 

2  The  year  following,  I  made  an  excursion  to  the  summit  of 
Uncompahgre  Peak,  and  was  thus  enabled  to  view  the  remarka- 
ble scenery  from  a  fine  central  view-point. 


I 


'    *: 


04 


THE   LAND   OF   THE   CLIFF-DWELLERS. 


I  \ 


\  ' 


s;     ! 


days.  Yet  we  needed  not  look  far  to  see  the  most 
beautiful  sights.  Near  to  our  station  were  peaks 
unsealed  and  unnamed,  which  are  marked  by  a 
grace  and  beauty  all  peculiar  to  themselves, — 
peaks  with  towers,  peaks  with  spires,  mountains 
with  graceful  and  beautiful  forms.  Down  at  our 
feet,  on  the  other  side  of  the  peak,  were  several 
large  lakelets,  and  we  could  see  the  upper  edges  of 
the  great  snow-field  on  the  north  side  of  Mount 
fc;naefell,  —  the  one  that  is  seen  so  beautifully 
from  the  Dallas  Eiver.  It  was  a  disappointment 
that  our  time  did  not  allow  us  to  investigate  this 
ice-expanse,  explore  it,  and  make  photographs  in 
detail,  as  no  one  has  been  near  it,  except,  possi- 
bly, a  few  prospectors.  Mr.  Kedsie,  the  State 
geologist  of  Colorado,  told  me,  when  we  were  in 
Ouray,  that  he  believed  that  this  snow-field 
might  prove  to  be  a  miniature  glacier.  We  ob- 
served one  crevasse  in  an  ice-stream  miles  away, 
high  up  on  another  mountain  to  the  west. 

The  north  face  of  Snaefell  is  very  ragged  in 
appearance,  a  number  of  jagged  aretes  leading 
from  the  summit.  Notwithstanding  our  interest 
in  the  perpetual  snow-fields,  one  of  the  most 
striking  points  of  interest  in  the  view  was  the 
effect  of  the  newly  fallen  snow  ;  white  bands,  as 
ribbons,  stretched  across  the  face  of  lofty  towers, 


\ 


THE  SAN  JUAN  MOUNT  xJS. 


95 


and  in  some  cases  reached  for  miles  in  parallel 
lines  along  whole  mountain  ranges,  maintaining 
equal  elevations.  This  is  accounted  for  by  the 
fact  that  the  trachyte  rocks  lie  in  benches,  these 
benches  running  across  the  face  of  the  peaks,  and 
the  snow  <^hus  tinds  lodgment.  Domes  far  and 
near  were  all  pure  white. 

We  left  the  summit  at  1.25  p.  m.,  stopping  to 
take  two  views  on  the  difficult  ledges.  Exploring 
for  a  new  route,  we  struck  a  gully  which  was 
so  filled  with  ice  and  loose  stones  that  we  were 
obliged  to  descend  singly  to  avoid  the  danger  from 
falling  rocks.  We  hurried  down  the  big  gulch 
by  which  we  had  ascended,  and  gained  the  base 
of  the  arete,  where  we  had  left  our  plates,  at 
2.50  P.  M.  Here  we  took  some  more  photographs  ; 
and  reaching  our  horses  at  3.45,  arrived  at  the 
cabins  at  4.15. 

We  had  so  much  time  at  our  disposal  that  we 
captured  a  number  of  pretty  views  around  the 
log-cabins,  and  secured  some  of  the  negatives 
which  serve  as  illustrations  to  this  chapter. 

One  matter  of  interest  to  us  in  the  view  from 
the  summit  of  our  mighty  peak  was  the  fact  that 
we  could  see,  far  away,  fifty  miles  to  the  south, 
between  the  Dolores  and  Needle  groups,  the 
beautiful  Hesperis  Peak  and  the  La  Plata  Moun- 


1' 

I: 


i   I 


i   I: 


i 


i 


96 


THE  LAND  OF  THE   CLIFF-DWELLERS. 


■ii 


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■  !''• 


■'■-^ 


tains,  —  ranges  that  stand  over  the  valleys  of  the 
Mancos,  the  Animas,  and  the  Dolorus  Kivers, 
whose  banks  are  lined  with  ruins  of  a  prehistoric 
race,  —  scenes  that  we  proposed  to  visit.  Leaving 
the  San  Juan  Mountains  with  a  regret  which 
would  have  been  much  deeper  but  that  we  were 
bound  for  regions  of  varied  interest,  and  know- 
ing that  we  should  be  in  sight  of  their  tapering 
crests  for  many  days,  we  crossed  the  range  and 
descended  through  Animas  Canon  to  Durango. 


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CHAPTER    IX. 


MANCOS  VALLEY. 


' 


THE  Mancos  River  —  Rio  de  los  Mancos 
(River  of  the  Cripples  ;  though  why  it  was 
so  called  I  have  been  unable  to  discover)  —  is 
an  alkaline  stream  which  rises  in  the  La  Plata 
Mountains.  It  flows  througli  an  open  country 
for  some  fifteen  miles,  then  enters  the  canon  bear- 
ing its  name,  and  soon  after  emerging  from  it  flows 
into  the  San  Juan  Ri\er,  which  in  turn  soon 
unites  with  the  great  Rio  Colorado  of  the  West. 

The  valley  of  the  Mancos  is  naturally  ap- 
proached from  Durango,  the  principal  town  of 
southwestern  Colorado,  upon  the  southern  loop 
of  the  Denver  &  Rio  Grande  Railroad,  which 
has  its  terminus  at  Silverton.  The  high-road  to 
Mancos  leaves  the  valley  of  the  Animas  and  passes 
over  an  intervening  plateau,  or  mesa,  a  distance 
of  some  forty  miles.  The  journey  is  an  interest- 
ing one.  The  country,  it  is  true,  is  in  a  general 
way  dry,  but  in  fertile  "draws" — as  the  local 
usage    calls    the    narrow    valleys  —  are    thrifty 

7 


98 


THE  LAND   OF  THE  CLIFF-DWELLERS. 


1 
P 

I;  I 
ii 


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ranches,  and  in  some  places  crops  of  wheat  and 
oats  are  raised  without  the  aid  of  irrigation,  wliile 
in  other  valleys  are  scattered  groves  of  very  tall 
pines.  Dew  here  is  almost  unknown,  and  the 
rainfall  is  scanty ;  but  in  fierce  winter  storms 
snow  sometimes  falls  even  to  the  depth  of  thirty 
inches,  disappearing  almost  ns  quickly  os  it  came. 
In  two  hours  after  leaving  Durango  the  road  to 
Mancos  diverges  to  the  north,  while  tliat  which 
we  have  been  travelling  continues  its  course  west- 
ward to  Fort  Lewis.  Reaching  the  western  edge 
of  the  mesa,  the  traveller  looks  down  upon  the 
valley  of  the  Mancos.  If  he  has  made  himself 
familiar  with  the  reports  of  the  survey  parties,  he 
will  reach  there  expecting  to  see  a  parched  and 
arid  region,  for  the  early  explorers  describe  it  as 
a  desert.  On  the  contrary,  there  lies  spread  out 
before  him  a  beautiful  land,  where  broad  fields  of 
golden  grain  cover  hillside  and  valley.  Near  and 
far  the  prospect  is  grand  and  beautiful.  Point 
Lookout,  the  great  terrace-like  tableland,  or  mesa, 
on  the  west  side  of  the  Mancos  Canon,  springs 
like  the  abutment  to  a  mighty  bridge,  the  im- 
posing Ute  Peak  rising  beyond  it  in  the  west. 
Very  beautiful  in  the  distant  background  are  the 
La  Plata  Mountains,  which  have  been  in  sight 
during  our  ride  over  the  mesa.      Especially  re- 


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MANGOS   VALLEY. 


markable  are  the  form  and  banding  of  Hesperis 
Peak,  which  declares  its  geological  structure  even 
at  this  distance  of  fifteen  miles. 

Mancos  is  an  inviting  place  for  its  own  sake, 
as  well  as  for  its  being  a  point  of  departure  for 
the  archaeological  wonders  of  the  neighboring 
cafions.  Its  history,  like  that  of  most  Colorado 
settlements,  is  brief.  In  ]874  John  Moss  and 
six  others  came  into  the  valley.  They  took  up 
claims,  but  their  golden  interests  lay  nearer  the 
mountains,  or  about  Parrott  City, — so  called  for  the 
man  by  whom  they  had  been  sent  out  from  San 
Francisco  to  prospect  the  country,  which  is  not 
devoid  of  mineral  wealth.  There  are  placer  mines 
on  the  high  mesas  to  the  north,  while  coal,  on 
which  the  hopes  of  Durango  rest,  is  found  along 
the  line  of  our  way  hither.  The  land  where  the 
village  of  Mancos  stands  was  not  "  taken  up  "  until 
more  recent  years,  and  as  late  as  1882  was  traded 
away  for  a  horse. 

Near  Mancos  passed  the  old  Spanish  trail  which 
led  from  Abiquiu  in  New  Mexico  to  the  Northwest. 
It  is  said  to  have  been  the  route  formerly  taken 
by  traders  between  Santa  ¥4  and  California. 

This  was  the  wonderland  which  my  companion 
and  myself,  allured  by  more  or  less  vague  reports, 
were  making  the  chief  objective  point  of  a  visit  to 


I 


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II 


1     tr 


100        THE  LAND  OP  THE   CLIFF-DWELLERS.     ^ 

southwestern  Colorado ;  but  even  when  we  found 
ourselves  at  Durango,  it  seemed  difficult  to  ob- 
tain much  information  in  regard  to  the  now  not 
far  distant  Mancos  country.  In  fact,  if  we  had 
not  been  well  informed  in  regard  to  the  literature 
of  the  cliff-dwellings  and  ruined  pueblos,  we  should 
have  been  led  to  turn  aside  and  visit  ruins  of  minor 
importance  which  exist  in  the  lower  valley  of  the 
Animas,  and  which  have  already  been  fully  de- 
scribed,—  this  upon  the  representation  of  enthu- 
siastic residents  of  that  valley.  It  was  but  by  the 
merest  accident  that  we  found  ourselves  instead 
at  the  delightful  ranch  of  the  Wetherills,  or  the 
banks  of  the  Mancos. 

Eanch-life  is  not  without  its  fascinations,  and 
here  one  finds  it  in  its  most  interesting  form. 
"  Alamo  Eanch,"  our  place  of  sojourn,  is  an  excel- 
lent type  of  its  class,  and  a  description  of  it  may 
serve  for  them  all. 

With  the  head  of  the  house  it  is  the  same  old 
story  as  with  many  pioneers.  Years  ago,  in  poor 
health  and  with  little  money,  he  rode  a  pony 
across  the  plains  from  the  Missouri  Eiver,  and 
took  up  a  claim  in  this  remote  valley.  With  the 
help  of  five  strong,  willing  sons,  all  has  prospered. 
The  soil,  by  irrigation,  yields  good  crops,  many 
horses  pasture  near,  and  hundreds  of  cattle  roam 


MANGOS   VALLEY. 


101 


ii 


the  mesas.  Everything  about  the  Alamo  Eanch 
gives  evidence  of  thrift  and  comfort.  The  barns 
are  large  and  well  filled,  and  enormous  stacks  of 
hay  and  straw  are  near  the  corral.  A  second  cor- 
ral—  a  very  queer  structure  —  was  made  by  cut- 
ting off*  the  tops  of  stunted  cedars,  and  using  the 
trunks  as  they  stood  for  posts.  Poles  were  placed 
on  the  top,  and  the  whole  then  covered  with  straw. 
The  house  itself,  situated  upon  the  terrace  of  an 
ancient  river-bed,  is  built  of  logs,  strong  and 
compact.  The  dining-room  —  an  important  ad- 
junct—  is  large,  and  has  a  generous  fireplace. 
Eight  years  ago  not  a  tree  stood  near  the  ranch- 
house  ;  but  now  cotton  wood-trees,  that  owe  their 
thrift  to  the  water  running  in  an  irrigating  chan- 
nel through  the  yard  and  garden,  give  a  grateful 
shade.  The  whole  neighboring  scene  is  pastoral : 
a  picturesque  home  has  been  established  in  the 
wilderness  of  sage-brush  and  pinon-pine.  After 
journeying  though  the  more  rugged  portions  of 
Colorado,  it  is  a  place  at  which  to  stop  and  rest. 

Stock-raising  is  the  principal  interest,  as  the 
great  hay-stacks  testify.  In  this  valley  the  an- 
nual "  round  up  "  is  still  held,  and  will  probably 
be  kept  up  for  some  years  to  come.  Here  one 
may  see  the  half-wild  broncho  trained  and  made 
docile  by  plucky  cow-boys.      Here,  too,  we  see 


■I 


':    ? 


102 


THE   LAND   OF  THE   CLIFP-DWELLEUS. 


M 


the  breed  of  wool-bearing  animals  called  Navajo 
sheep,  with  their  shaggy  fleece. 

Bear  and  deer  are  plentiful  about  Mancos  val- 
ley and  on  tlie  mesas,  especially  when  the  heavy 
snows  of  winter  drive  them  from  the  mountains. 
In  December,  1889,  the  younger  Wetherills  killed 
seven  deer,  and  were  well  supplied  with  venison. 
The  annals  of  the  hunters  prove  that  comical 
things  happen  even  in  such  an  out-of-the-way 
place  as  Mancos.  Near  Webber  Canon  lives  a 
ranchman  who  owned  a  large  dog,  which  one  day 
brought  a  buck  to  bay.  The  deer  was  holding 
his  own  against  the  dog,  and  the  frontiersman 
witnessed  the  fight  from  a  distance.  He  had  nc 
gun  with  him,  but  determined  to  try  and  knock 
the  buck  in  the  head  with  a  stone ;  but  instead 
of  accomplishing  this,  his  intended  victim  sent 
him  up  a  pifion-tree,  and  kept  him  there  a  long 
time. 

The  interest  of  the  archaeologist  is  excited  im- 
mediately on  his  arrival.  Near  the  Wetherills* 
ranch  are  some  old  ruins  by  the  roadside.  They 
appear  like  natural  mounds,  or  heaps  of  stone ; 
but  close  scrutiny  refers  their  origin  to  human 
hands.  Broken  pottery  is  strewn  all  around,  and 
specimens  of  many  designs  may  easily  be  found. 
Much  time  would  be  required  to  determine  the 


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1  ? 


MANCOS   VALLEY. 


103 


limits  and  size  of  the  village  or  city,  for  it  was  of 
considerable  extent.  Tumbled-down  walls  cover 
a  large  field.  Whether  these  structures  were  de- 
stroyed by  an  invader,  or  have  simply  crumbled 
of  themselves,  no  one  knows. 

Such  ruins  are  numerous  in  this  region.  The 
best  specimens  remaining  are  those  at  Aztec 
Springs,  in  the  Montezuma  Valley,  the  one  next 
west  of  the  Mancos.  These  are  said  to  be  the 
most  extensive  remains  yet  found  in  Colorado. 
Mr.  William  H.  Holmes  published  in  1878  an 
account  of  his  visit  to  them.  According  to  his 
measurements,  one  of  the  structures  is  eighty  feet 
wide,  one  hundred  feet  long,  and,  as  then  stand- 
ing, twelve  to  iifteen  feet  high.  The  largest 
house  measures  one  hundred  and  eighty  feet  in 
width,  by  two  hundred  feet  in  length.  "The 
whole  group  covers  an  area  of  about  480,000 
square  feet,  and  has  an  average  depth  of  from 
three  to  four  feet.  This  would  give  in  the  vicin- 
ity of  1,500,000  solid  feet  of  stone-work.  The 
stone  is  chiefly  of  the  fossiliferous  limestone  that 
outcrops  along  the  base  of  the  Mesa  Verde,  a  mile 
or  more  away,  and  its  transportation  to  this  place 
was  doubtless  a  toilsome  work  for  a  people  so 
totally  without  facilities."^ 

1  Hayden's  Report  for  1876,  pp.  399  et  seq. 


i  ■ '• 


hi. 


U    .     I! 


104        THE   LAND   OP  THE   CLIFF-DWELLERS. 

There  are  ruins  in  other  localities  well  worth 
investigation.  West  of  Ute  Mountain,  near  Yel- 
low Jacket  Canon,  is  a  building  said  to  be  twenty 
feet  or  more  in  height.  It  is  built  in  a  circle, 
within  which  is  a  second  wall  enclosing  a  circu- 
lar room.  The  space  between  the  two  walls  is 
cut  into  small  chambers.  In  Montezuma  Canon 
there  is  an  island  formed  by  a  parting  of  the 
creek,  which  is  said  to  have  been  literally  covered 
with  arrow-points.  Near  here  are  many  pottery 
kilns,  and  stone  tools  have  been  found.  Most  of 
the  ruins  in  the  western  country,  about  McElmo, 
Yellow  Jacket,  and  Montezuma  Canons,  are  low- 
land ruins,  or  remains  of  agricultural  settlements. 
The  cliff-dwellings  are  very  small.  These  remains, 
as  well  as  many  others  scattered  over  the  broad 
plains  and  along  Dolores,^  Hovenweep,  and  other 
rivers,  are  not  to  be  compared,  as  picturesque 
features,  at  least,  with  the  ruins  among  the  bold 
cliffs  of  the  Mancos  Canons. 

I  have  maf^s  reference  in  a  previous  chapter  to 
the  explorations  of  Holmes  and  Jackson  among 
the  Mancos  ruins.  Even  until  within  a  few 
years,  the  hostility  of  the  Utes  has  rendered  it 
dangerous  for  a  white  man  to  venture  down  the 

'  Escalante  in  1776  saw  ruins  on  the  south  side  of  the  Dolo- 
res f  Bancroft,  vol.  xxv.). 


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MANCOS   VALLEY. 


105 


'- 


Mancos  River  without  military  escort,  so  it  is  not 
until  very  recently  that  niucli  has  hoon  fliRcovered 
to  adil  to  the  important  revelations  of  these  earlier 
explorers.  It  was  our  fortune  to  meet  at  this 
ranch  Richard  and  Alfred  Wetherill,  sous  of  Our 
h(»st,  who  are  the  owners  of  large  herds  of  cattle, 
which  roam  through  the  valleys  and  over  the 
mesas.  Straying,  as  tliese  often  do,  down  into 
the  land  of  the  Utes,  long  rides  are  rc^quired  to 
bring  them  back  to  the  settlements.  In  taking 
these  excursions,  Richard,  especially,  has  dis- 
covered many  cliff-houses  of  great  interest  in 
Navajo,  Moccasin,  Acowitz,  Cliff,  and  other 
side  canons  in  the  Mesa  Verde,  and  has  given 
many  of  these  abandoned  dwellings  a  careful 
examination. 

It  was  our  good  fortune  to  l)ft  the  first  to  ex- 
plore thoroughly  this  region  with  the  Wetherills. 
In  long  trips  with  them  we  discovered  ruins  that 
had  probably  never  been  seen  by  white  men  be- 
fore, and  succeeded  in  scaling  cliffs  and  entering 
dilapidated  fortresses  that  appeared  inaccessible. 
Equipped  with  a  camera,  we  made  many  photo- 
graphs and  plans,  and  systematically  explored  the 
surrounding  country.  On  this  first  trip  we  were 
accompanied  by  Richard  and  John  Wetherill. 
Again,  in  September,  1890,  I  visited  the  country 


I 


106        THE   LAND   OP  THE  CLIFF-DWELLERS. 

for  the  second  time,  and  witli  Ilichaid  and  Alfred 
Wetherill  took  a  now  route,  and  explored  more 
southern  canons,  journeying  by  Indian  trails, 
parts  of  which  had  never  been  followed  even 
by  my  intrepid  companions.  I  take  to  myself, 
however,  no  credit  of  discovery,  for  one  bent  on 
finding  hitherto  un^  ..own  ruins  in  this  locality 
must  necessarily  have  one  of  the  Wetherills  along 
with  him  to  inform  him  whether  any  supposed 
discovery  is  real  or  imaginary. 


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CHAPTER  X. 


THE   UTE   INDIANS. 


UNDER  the  caption  "Wild  Tribes"  I  have 
made  reference  to  the  great  tribe  of  Yutah 
Indians ;  but  some  description  of  these  people  as 
they  exist  to-day  in  the  Land  of  the  Clitf-Dwollers 
naturally  forms  a  part  of  any  description  of  this 
country.  In  the  eastern  section  of  their  reserva- 
tion, along  the  line  of  the  Denver  &  Rio  Grande 
Railroad,  the  Indians  cultivate  the  land,  and  have 
taken  some  steps  toward  civilization  ;  their  farms 
are  an  interesting  feature  of  the  landscape  as  one 
sees  them  from  the  car  windows.  But  farther  to 
the  west,  in  Mancos  and  McElmo  Canons,  and 
about  the  Sierra  el  Late  Mountains,  the  tribe 
known  as  the  Weeminuches  lead  a  roaming,  pas- 
toral life.  They  do  not  wish  to  be  civilized ;  they 
tend  their  herds  of  cattle,  their  droves  of  horses 
and  flocks  of  sheep,  and  hunt  among  the  moun- 
tains, frequently  trespassing  beyond  the  boun- 
daries of  their  reservation.  They  dwell  in 
"  wickyups," — arbor-like  shelters  made  of  poles  of 
aspen  and  covered  with  brush.     These  make  good 


108 


THE  LAND   OF  THE   CLIFF-DWELLERS. 


h^ 


i    !' 


si 


;l 


•li't 


I: 


If! 


habitations  for  the  summer  months,  but  in  winter, 
even  when  covered  with  skins,  they  cannot  be 
very  warm,  and  their  occupants  must  suffer  from 
cold ;  for  snow  at  times  lies  deep  on  the  plateaus, 
and  fierce  icy  blasts  from  the  San  Juan  Mountains 
sweep  down  through  the  canons. 

The  Utes  are  decreasing  in  numbers,  and  will 
probably  be  removed  ere  long  to  lands  to  be  set 
apart  for  them  in  Utah.  Doubtless  this  change 
will  be  for  the  commercial  interest  of  Durango 
and  neighboring  towns ;  but  it  will  remove  one 
of  the  picturesque  attractions  of  the  locality,  and 
the  ethnologist  will  lose  the  last  chance  to  study 
the  tribe  in  its  native  haunts. 

Originally  there  were  seven  bands  of  the  Utes. 
In  northwestern  Colorado  were  those  of  the  White 
River  country,  whose  chief  was  Nevava,  —  the 
story  of  their  raids,  ravages,  and  massacres  are 
among  the  saddest  annals  of  Indian  warfare ; 
south  of  these  were  the  Uncompahgre  Utes,  led 
by  Ouray,  a  chief  who  was  very  friendly  to  the 
w^  ites.  On  the  frontier  of  New  Mexico  were  the 
southern  Utes,  under  Ignacio,  whose  name  is  per- 
petuated by  a  town  in  the  reservation.  In  Utah 
lived  the  Uintah  Utes,  and  there  were  three  bands 
in  New  Mexico.^ 

1  Bancroft,  vol.  xxv.  p.  470. 


I^Ttiwf^^- — ^l 


'5^(^»V^ 


\un 


■n 


TOWER     IN     MANGOS     CANON. 


"^mm 


wimtmrnmrn 


mi'  iipi 


wmm^m 


I    l; 


Mi 

■     \ 

5.1 


m 


111 


\f 


[ij 


I 


THE   UTE  INDIANS. 


109 


The  Southern  Utes,  as  now  gathered  in  the 
reservation,  are  divided  into  three  bands,  —  the 
Capotes,  Muaches,  and  Weeniinuches-^  One  band, 
whose  chief  is  Mariana,  camps  south  of  Ute 
Mountain.  The  last  chief  of  the  Weeminuches 
was  named  Capazone.  He  died  several  years  ago, 
and  when  we  visited  Mancos  Canon,  his  squaw 
was  the  ruler  of  the  band. 

These  Indians  often  visit  the  Alamo  Ranch, 
where  we  made  our  headquarters.  Tliey  are  made 
welcome,  feel  at  home,  and  receive  what  they 
come  for ;  namely,  plenty  to  eat.  They  call  the 
senior  of  the  houseliold  their  father.  To  this 
friendliness  may  be  attributed  tlie  success  of 
Ptichard  Wetliorill  in  making  his  discoveries  and 
explorations  in  the  canons,  ft '  oears  that  what 
h{\{\  been  a  hindrance  toothers  had  never  deterred 
him  frorn  (Mitering  the  wild  regions.  Even  dur- 
ing tlu!  >'<kirmislung  warfare  of  only  a  few  years 
ago,  the  frip!idly  intcK-ourse  between  the  Wetherill 
family  and  the  Indians  was  not  broken,  and  tliey 
exchanged  visits  all  through  the  period  of  the 
border  figlits.  Yet  recently  the  Utes  have  made 
way  with  at  least  one  adventurer  who  had  strolled 
into  their  domain. 

1  Baiioroft  gives  Mowaches,  Tabaquaches,  and  Weemiffiiaches 
as'  living  in  ^\'\\  Mexico.  Olhcr  authorities  write  of  Kapoti, 
Muuulii,  auil  Wiuunuchi  (vul,  xxv.  p.  470). 


li    II 


\:~  H 


i 

i 


110        THE  LAND   OP   THE  CLIFF-DWELLERS. 


f 


■    -I 


i 


!' 


One  evening  during  my  stay,  on  returning  from 
exploring  some  burial-mounds,  I  found  three  Utes 
at  the  ranch.  They  were  to  sleep  in  the  hay- 
stacks, but  had  come  to  the  house  for  supper. 
Two  were  from  Mancos  Canon,  and  one  was  from 
the  eastern  section  of  the  reservation,  Los  Pinos. 
Tlie  latter  spoke  a  little  English,  and  had  had 
some  schooling  at  the  agency ;  but  this  evening 
all  hung  their  heads  and  were  uncommunicative. 
We  gave  them  some  tobacco,  wliich  they  rolled 
in  paper  and  smoked.  They  were  given  a  good 
supper,  and  then  became  more  social.  One  was 
very  fat,  and  his  hunger  was  not  easily  satisfied. 
After  the  others  had  finished,  he  reached  for  the 
boiled  bone  which  remained  on  the  platter,  and 
gnawed  it  clean.  The  blankets  which  they  wore 
were  of  the  ordinary  government  pattern,  and  not 
very  showy.  The  Los  Pinos  Indian  and  one  of 
the  Mancos  tribe  were  without  head  covering,  but 
the  fat  man  wore  a  sombrero  ;  they  wore  buck- 
skin moccasins,  the  soles  of  raw-hide.  On  asking 
the  Los  Pinos  man  if  he  made  them,  he  answered 
that  his  squaw  did  the  work,  but  that  he  could  do 
it.  The  fat  man's  name  was  Wanamesa,  and  his 
comrade's  Acowoitz,  — a  name  very  like  that  of 
one  of  his  more  prominent  tribesmen.  I  found 
that  the  Los  Piiios  Indian,  who  was  the  youngest 


8 
y 

X 

o 
r 
w 

o 

r 
I— I 

t 

X 

o 

G 


I 


I   i 


i-^ 


I' 

If 


, 


^ 


Hi 


H"U 


r;  v. 


1 


|F1 


THE  UTE  INDIANS. 


Ill 


of  the  three,  could  write  a  little,  and  after  con- 
siderable talk  he  wrote  his  name  in  my  note-book, 
—  "Cliarvyz."  After  their  supper  they  came 
into  another  room  with  mo,  and  I  talked  with 
them  for  an  hour.  I  showed  them  a  volume  of 
photographs,  —  views  which  I  had  taken,  in  their 
own  country,  of  carious,  clitl'-houses,  and  "  wicky- 
ups."  They  recognized  many  of  the  pictures. 
Views  of  the  mountains  did  not  seem  to  mean 
much  to  them. 

They  saw  my  camera,  which  was  standing  in 
one  corner  of  the  room,  and  asked  what  it  was 
for.  On  being  informed,  they  denounced  it  as 
"  no  good,"  even  Charvyz  saying  that  it  was  "  not 
very  much  good."  Eichard  Wetherill,  coming 
into  the  room,  pointed  the  instrument  at  Aco- 
woitz,  when  he  fled  precipitately,  and  we  did 
not  see  him  again  that  night.  We  endeavored 
to  persuade  the  remaining  Indians  to  sit  for 
their  pictures  the  next  day;  only  Charvyz  con- 
sented. We  succeeded,  however,  in  getting 
pictures  of  all. 

Interesting  as  we  found  this  meeting  with  In- 
dians at  the  ranch,  it  was  still  more  so  to  see 
them  in  their  homes.  We  afterward  met  them 
on  the  plateau  and  in  the  cafions.  Our  first 
meeting  was  in  Mancos  Canon.      Mr.  Howard, 


i 


112        THE   LAND   OF  THE   CLIFF-DWELLERS. 


li 


! 


Kichard  and  John  Wcthcrill,  and  I  had  been  ex- 
ploring the  Sandal  Clill-house,  which  will  be  de- 
scribed in  the  next  chapter.  We  had  left  it,  to 
journey  farther  to  the  south,  following  the  stream. 
Soon  the  path  abandoned  the  river,  and  by  nu- 
merous obstacles  was  crowded  high  up  on  a  terrace 
on  the  west  side  and  above  the  trees,  so  that  we 
obtained  a  clear  view  of  the  opposite  walls  and 
steep  slopes.  Suddenly  we  saw  a  drove  of  horses 
upon  the  hillside,  and  following  them  there  rode 
an  Indian,  with  a  little  Ute  sitting  behind  him 
astride  the  steed.  The  red-man  caught  sight  of 
our  "  outtit,"  and  for  a  long  time  regarded  us  with 
a  stern  curiosity ;  he  evidently  considered  us  as 
intruders  in  his  domain.  He  was  a  picturesque 
figure,  without  covering  for  his  head,  his  black 
hair  flowing  down  his  back,  and  with  a  Navajo 
blanket  over  his  shoulders.  He  did  not  take  his 
eyes  from  us  till  we  had  passed  down  into  the 
brush  in  the  river-bottom. 

The  next  morning  found  us  en  route  for  the 
portion  of  the  mesa  lying  between  Cliff  and 
Navajo  Cailons,  this  time  to  explore  a  western 
tributary  of  the  Mancos.  After  an  hour's  riding 
to  the  south  we  came  upon  old  Indian  "  wickyups," 
and  in  a  few  minutes  more  passed  some  which 
were  comparatively  new.     Their  owners  were  ab- 


'!     \ 

lit!       1 

It     5 


THE  UTE   INDIANS. 


118 


sent.  These  dwellings  we  photographed,  for  they 
were  of  great  interest,  as  showiiif^'  the  diflerence 
between  the  ihodes  of  tlie  Utes,  the  present  in- 
hiihitants  of  thu  valley  of  the  Mancos,  and  tliose 
of  the  m<n*e  skilful  builders  of  the  houses  among 
the  cliffs.  The  '*  wickyujjs  "  v/ere  maih^  of  pides 
of  box-elder,  thatched  with  twigs  of  willow  and 
water-birch.  An  opening  led  right  through  them. 
These  that  we  photographed  were  for  summer 
use,  and  especially  for  shade.  The  peinianent 
abodes  ar(^  covered  with  skins  or  tent-cloth.  In 
one  of  these  arbors  we  found  willow-coil,  which 
the  Utes  use  for  making  water-jars,  examples  of 
which  we  saw  later.  Near  by  were  mound-ruins. 
The  valley  is  broad  at  this  point,  and  there  is 
considerable  feed  for  stock. 

Shortly  we  came  upon  a  flock  of  sheep  and 
goats ;  and  a  little  farther  on,  the  l)arking  and 
yelping  of  many  curs  warned  us  of  our  approach 
to  an  encampment.  It  was  only  that  of  one 
family,  however,  —  the  temporary  home  of  Ta- 
bayo,  the  Indian  whom  we  had  seen  tending  his 
herd  of  horses  the  day  before. 

Two  little  girls  fled  from  our  presence  into 
a  "wickyup,"  of  which  there  were  three:  two 
of  these  were  covered  with  canvas.  Old  Tabayo 
came  forth,  not  to  greet,  but  to  eye  us  with  a 

8 


t 


^. 


IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


1.0 


I.I 


I 


ISA  ^ 

■  22 


■50 


L25  1111.4 


!.6 


/. 


71 


Itaographic 

Sciences 

Corporation 


23  WEST  MAIN  STREfT 

WEUTBR,N.Y.  143S0 

(716)  •72-4503 


^i<^ 


iV 


114        THE  LAND   OP  THE   CLIFF-DWELLERS. 


I 


ft 


\ 


M 


surly  indifference.  He  stood  glaring,  not  moving 
a  muscle  nor  relaxing  his  features.  The  young 
maidens  now  ventured  out  again,  and  began  to 
throw  stones  at  the  dogs,  which  threatened  to 
eat  up  our  faithful  canine  companion.  Richard 
dismounted,  fearlessly  advanced,  and  took  Ta- 
bayo's  hand,  which  the  Indian  seemed  reluctant 
to  grant.  After  a  little  broken  and  unsatisfac- 
tory attempt  at  conversation,  our  guide  beckoned 
to  me  to  come  forward.  I  jumped  from  my 
horse,  and  was  introduced  with  the  utterance 
of  the  single  word  "  Tabayo."  The  surly  savage 
barely  acknowledged  my  salute,  but  permitted  us 
to  look  around.  I  should  have  felt  move  at  ease 
if  there  had  been  fewer  dogs  at  our  heels.  Tabayo 
exhibited  a  poor  specimen  of  a  stone  axe  from  the 
mound  ruins,  which  he  was  willing  to  barter 
for  something.  The  only  word  he  uttered  was 
"Swap?" 

A  fire  was  smouldering  in  front  of  one  of  the 
wigwams,  and  the  carcase  of  a  sheep  hung  in  a 
tree  near  by.  We  noticed  in  one  lodge  a  water 
jar  which  was  made  from  willow,  stripped  and 
made  tight  with  pinon-gum.  One  of  the  two 
squaws  came  out  and  sat  down.  She  was  fat, 
and  seemed  of  a  jolly  nature.  She  was  occupied 
in  mending  one  of  Tabayo's  moccasins :  we  had 


\ 


n 


z 

o 


o 


I 


i 


v      i 


i    ; 


« 


THE  UTE  INDIANS. 


115 


observed  that  one  of  his  feet  was  minus  a  cover- 
ing. He  had  lost  one  eye,  and  his  name  is  said 
to  have  some  relation  to  this  fact.  Eichard  asked 
him  to  allow  us  to  photograph  his  group ;  but 
scowling,  and  lifting  his  stone  axe  to  a  threaten- 
ing position,  he  made  us  understand  by  the  use 
of  this  universal  language,  little  assisted  by  his 
mother-tongue,  that  he  would  break  the  instru- 
ment if  we  undertook  the  operation.  We  might 
perhaps  ha'^  ^cured  a  picture  by  strategy,  al- 
though these  Indians  are  as  cunning  as  they  are 
superstitious.  We  thought  it  best  not  to  jeopar- 
dize our  position,  and  run  the  risk  of  being  driven 
from  their  territory  and  perhaps  losing  what  nega- 
tives we  had  already  secured  of  more  valuable 
subjects.  We  offered  him  "un  peso"  for  the 
desired  privilege ;  but  he  rejected  the  offer  with 
scorn.  The  Utes  do  not  seem  to  care  much  for 
money.  They  would  be  more  apt  to  plunder  a 
stranger  for  his  "  outfit,"  saddle,  or  arms,  than  for 
any  silver  that  he  might  carry. 

Eichard  filled  up  Tabayo's  tobacco-pouch,  and 
we  turned  to  ride  away.  Then  the  Indian  seemed 
to  relent,  and  fixed  his  price  at  "  diez  pesos ; "  but 
we  did  not  heed  him.  I  expected  that  he  would 
call  us  back,  but  he  did  not.  Eichard  said  that  he 
could  have  been  brought  to  change  his  mind,  if 


It 


H 


t  ^ 


i 


i 


1  i  ;' 

''   : 

:', 

,    ■   'f 

1:  . 

' "  i      i' 

: 

116        THE  LAND    OF  THE   CLIFF-DWELLERS. 

not  for  less  money,  for  a  reasonable  share  of  our 
provisions,  if  we  could  have  palavered  with  him 
for  an  hour ;  but  we  had  no  time  to  lose,  and  were 
already  much  belated.  Later  on,  I  had  no  trouble 
in  securing  pictures  of  the  Indians.  Tabayo  him- 
self has  since  had  his  portrait  taken ;  but  the 
operation  required  much  time  and  considerable 
talk.  One  picture  has  been  sent  to  me  which  is 
said  to  have  cost  fifty  pounds  of  flour.  The  old 
Ute  dressed  himself  in  all  his  finery,  consisting 
of  beaded  buckskin  sash,  and  pockets  of  the  same 
material.  He  is  now  a  sufferer  from  rheumatism, 
and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  he  does  not  charge  it  to 
the  fact  that  his  features  have  been  impressed  on 
a  gelatine  film. 

Leaving  these  children  of  the  wilderness,  we 
rode  on  down  the  valley,  and  after  an  hour's  jour- 
ney turned  up  a  rocky  path  to  climb  the  mesa. 
Far  down  the  canon,  —  which  here  wcs  of  wide 
expanse  and  very  level,  —  we  spied  the  smoke  of  a 
larger  Indian  encampment.  Suddenly  a  mounted 
redskin  emerged  from  the  group  of  "  wickyups," 
and  galloped  furiously  over  the  plain.  As  we 
mounted  higher,  he  put  spurs  to  his  horse,  and 
soon  overtook  us.  With  only  a  glance  at  those 
of  us  who  were  behind,  he  rode  up  to  Kichard 
and  took  his  proffered  Land ;  yet  there  was  mis- 


, 


f 


THE   UTE   INDIANS. 


117 


chief  in  his  look  as  he  demanded  our  intentions. 
Our  guide  pointed  out  the  direction  of  our  jour- 
ney,—  over  the  mesa,  and  home  by  a  western 
route,  —  and  added  to  his  sign  language  the  words 
"one  sleep."  The  Ute  observed  our  spade;  he 
seemed  dissatisfied.  Then  he  expostulated  in  Ute, 
Spanish,  and  English,  so  mixed  up  in  vocabu- 
lary that  it  was  difficult  to  comprehend;  but 
out  of  the  jargon  I  caught  the  following  ideas : 
"  White  man  rich ;  Indian  poor.  White  man  dig 
up  Moquis,  make  Ute  sick :  little  Ute,  big  Ute, 
all  heap  sick."  ^  He  made  motions  indicative  of 
the  process  of  excavation,  and  with  a  threatening, 
superstitious  look  seemed  bound  to  prevent  any 
such  sacrilege  of  the  graves  of  the  departed 
tribes.  Kichard  insisted  that  we  did  not  intend 
to  disturb  the  bones  of  the  Moquis,  but  were  to 
photograph  the  ruins.  This  latter  operation  he 
explained  by  pointing  to  our  apparatus,  and  going 
through  the  motions  of  looking  through  glass. 
Wap  (for  such  was  his  name)  now  made  a  de- 
mand for  toll  for  the  privilege  of  going  over  the 
mesa ;  but  Richard,  pointing  to  the  high  climbing 
sun,  answered,  "Ken  savvy"  (^Quien  sale).    As 


1  This  reference  to  the  Moquis  shows  that  the  Utes  have  a 
tradition  that  the  Moquis  are  the  descendants  of  the  ClifT- 
Dwellers. 


If 


. 


I 


:  i 


118 


THE   LAND   OP  THE   CLIFF-DWELLERS. 


we  turned  away,  Wap  exclaimed :  "  No  money, 
Richard  no  come  back  in  caflon."  The  Ute  stood 
motionless,  regarding  us  till  we  were  high  among 
the  upper  cliffs  of  the  canon,  when  he  turned 
wrathfully  away  and  galloped  to  the  north 
toward  Tabayo's  "  wickyups."  I  must  confess 
that  I  watched  these  tents  till  they  were  all  out 
of  sight,  for  I  feared  to  see  Wap  and  Tabayo 
mount  their  ponies  and  gallop  down  toward  the 
lower  encampment,  where  generally  a  dozen  or 
more  braves  are  to  be  found.  Such  a  force,  if 
gathered,  could  have  compelled  us  to  return  to 
Mancos,  thus  frustrating  the  important  plan  of 
our  expedition.  We  were  not  even  armed,  to 
show  bluster  if  threatened;  a  rickety  revolver 
in  Richard's  belt  being  the  only  weapon  in  the 
outfit. 

Taking  into  consideration  his  friendship  for 
Richard,  Wap's  conduct  was  very  strange.  Two 
days  before,  John  Wetherill  and  others  had  met 
him,  and  offered  him  four  dollars  to  guide  them 
over  the  mesa  by  the  route  which  we  were  fol- 
lowing, —  a  %vay  known  only  to  Richard  and  the 
Indians.  He  did  not  catch  the  idea,  accompanied 
them  only  a  little  distance,  and  then  demanded 
his  money.  This  was  refused  him,  —  which  may 
explain  his  surliness.    Wap  is  not  a  man  of  any 


' 


THE  UTE  INDIANS. 


119 


influence,  and  Richard  said  that  he  did  not  antici- 
pate any  difficulty  from  that  sourco.  The  next 
winter  Wap  changed  his  tactics,  and  was  of  great 
assistance  to  the  explorers  of  the  canons,  though 
at  first  he  was  inclined  to  hinder  their  work.  A 
person  of  more  brains  and  greater  influence  in  the 
valley  is  Acowitz.  He  is  a  friend  of  Richard's, 
and  we  hoped  to  meet  him  on  the  mesa,  where  he 
frequently  herds  his  cattle  in  company  with  some 
of  the  Navajo  Indians ;  but  he  did  not  chance  our 
way.  He  was  somewhat  in  Wetherill's  debt  for 
the  loan  of  a  rifle  and  other  small  favors. 


CHAPTER   XL 


)  t 


t  i 


M 


MANGOS   CANON. 

ANCOS  CANON  is  the  great  median  vein 
passing  through  the  Mesa  Verde,  which 
receives  from  right  and  left  the  numerous  tribu- 
tary caiions.  The  distance  from  Wetherill's 
Eanch  to  its  southern  opening  in  the  San  Juan 
valley  is  estimated  at  thirty-seven  miles,  and  the 
width  of  the  caiion  at  that  place  is  about  three 
miles.  In  the  narrower  portions,  the  gorge  is 
perhaps  half  a  mile  wide.  At  the  opening  to  the 
north,  the  mesa  walls,  like  great  portals,  are  sep- 
arated about  five  miles  with  a  sloping,  nearly 
level,  tract  between.  The  whole  length  of  this 
canon  is  of  interest  to  the  archteologist,  but  so 
much  of  it  has  been  described  by  Messrs.  Holmes 
and  Jackson  that  it  remains  only  to  call  atten- 
tion to  a  few  ruins  that  chanced  to  escape  their 
observation. 

Two  hours'  journey  from  Mancos  brings  one  to 
the  mouth  of  Webber  Canon,  the  first  tributary 
gorge  on  the  left,  or  southeastern,  side.  All  the 
ranches  have  been  passed  before  this  point  is 


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MANCOM   CASoN. 


121 


reftf'hod.  The  path  is  luMireforth  nii  Tiuliaii  trii'l, 
niul  the  river  must  often  he  forded.  Here,  how- 
ever, it  is  only  worthy  the  name  of  creek,  for  the 
irriiifitinL'  ditches  of  the  farmers  ahove  take  the 
greater  i)art  of  its  waters.  Lower  down,  however, 
it  rcigiiins  some  of  the  loss.  Scarcity  of  water  is 
tlie  scour^'e  of  the  country.  Mancos  Kiver  is  an 
alkaline  strenm.  The  sprinfi;s,  rarely  found,  are 
alkaline ;  hut  when  much  rain  falls,  the  potable 
quality  of  the  river  water  is  improved. 

Near  the  junction  with  \Vehl)er  Caiton  are 
numerous  mounds  similar  to  those  near  Mancos 
village.  Tlieir  presence  is  first  intimated  by 
fragments  of  pottery  scattered  over  the  ground. 
The  building  material  was  sandstone.  Excava- 
tion shows  regular  walls,  and  in  the  burial-mounds 
bones  of  tlie  ancient  people  are  found. 

An  hour  and  a  half  farther  to  the  south  there 
is  a  very  interesting  cliff-house,  which  is  situ- 
ated high  above  on  the  right,  or  northwestern, 
cliff.  It  takes  but  ten  minutes  to  reach  it  from 
the  trail  below.  The  ruins  are  placed  under  an 
arched  cliff,  the  space  of  which  we  estimated  at 
thirty  feet  high  in  front,  and  .bout  eighteen  feet 
in  the  rear,  where  the  masonry  abuts  against  the 
stone  roof  of  the  cave.  Six  front  rooms  are  still 
to  be  seen,  only  three  of  which  are  well  pre- 


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122        THE  LAND   OP  THE   CLIFP-DWELLEUS. 

served.  Two  of  them  are  circular.  All  the  space 
under  the  cliff,  perhaps  a  hundred  feet  in  length, 
had  evidently  at  one  time  been  covered  by  the 
structure.^  The  material  used  in  the  building 
v^as  sandstone,  of  the  same  composition  as  the 
surrounding  cliffs.  The  stones  cf  the  walls  of  the 
house  gaire  evidence  of  having  been  rudely  faced. 
The  mortar  used  was  evidently  made  from  the 
fine  alkaline  detritus  of  the  cliffs.  Some  of  the 
walls  had  been  plastered  with  material  taken 
from  the  river-bed :  it  was  put  on  with  the  hands, 
and  the  finger-marks  show  the  manner  of  doing 
the  work.  In  the  north  enclosure  is  a  painting 
of  a  small  sized  hand  in  red.  On  one  of  the  walls 
is  a  human  figure  five  inches  and  three-quarters 
high,  represented  playing  a  flute-like  instrument.^ 
The  floors  of  the  room  are  pretty  well  demol- 
ished. From  the  north  apartment  a  peculiar 
shaped  door  leads  into  a  back  chamber.  But  for 
the  fact  that  it  is  the  entrance  to  an  enclosure 
which  could  have  had  no  light,  one   would  be 

'  Wliile  I  was  making  notes,  my  companiou  made  a  ground- 
plan,  wh  :^  T  am  able  to  present  here.  The  measurem^atv  were 
obtained  by  pacing  off  the  different  rooms.  The  walls,  generally 
twelve  inches  thick,  are  sixteen  inches  thick  in  a  circulai  house ; 
the  plan  so  represents  it. 

^  A  flute  was  found  in  e  cliff-house,  and  is  now  in  a  c  Section  at 
Denver. 


n 


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Planof  !«?  CLIFF  DWELLING      Mancos  Canon. 


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CANONS 


MANGOS  RIVER. 

COLORADO. 


i'l     N  iit.. 


^&      Importanf    Cliff   Hoi4sa>-> 
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MANGOS  CAi^ON. 


128 


inclined  to  take  it  for  a  window.  The  lintel  is  a 
charred  cedar  stick  ;  there  is  a  good  stone  sill. 
From  the  number  of  sandals  found  in  this  build- 
ing, it  is  called  the  Sandal  Cliff-house. 

The  house  fronts  the  east.  Upon  the  opposite 
side  of  the  caflon,  quite  low  down,  is  one  building, 
and  high  up  on  the  cliff  is  another;  they  are 
both  small,  and  difficult  to  detect  with  the  naked 
eye.  It  has  been  stated  for  a  fact  heretofore  that 
all  the  houses  were  built  upon  the  western  sides 
of  the  caSons,  so  that  the  rising  sun  could  shine 
into  them.  This  is  an  error,  for  some  of  the  finest 
ruins  have  been  discovered  upon  the  eastern  face 
of  the  cliffs.^ 

T'le  night  following  our  first  visit  we  pitched 
camp  a  few  miles  south  of  the  Sandal  Cliff-house, 
in  a  clump  of  box-elders  at  a  point  a  little  above 
the  entrance  to  Cliff  Caiion,  a  tributary  of  the 
Mancos  from  the  west.  By  reason  of  a  heavy 
shower  which  had  drenched  us,  the  branches  were 
so  wet  that  we  could  not  cut  any  boughs  for  a 
bed ;  so,  stretching  a  wagon  canvas,  which  had 
covered  one  of  the  packs,  between  two  trees  to 
keep   off  the  rain,  we  spread  blankets  on  the 


m 


1  Crest  of  the  Continent,  p.  160  ;  also  Hayden's  Report,  1876 
(W.  H.  Jackson),  p.  376  :  "  We  could  not  find  even  the  faintest 
vestige  of  ruins  or  houses  upon  the  eastern  side. " 


T 


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124        THE  LAND  OP  THE  CLIFF-DWELLERS. 

ground,  and  then  dried  ourselves  by  the  camp-fire. 
During  the  evening  I  was  able  to  make  notes 
by  the  firelight.  We  also  changed  our  exposed 
negatives  from  their  plate-holders,  in  order  to  be 
able  to  start  in  the  morning  with  thirty-two  dry 
plates  in  readiness  for  use.  The  river  ran  very 
near  our  camp.  The  liquid  was  disagreeable  to 
the  taste,  and  very  muddy.  We  bailed  some  from 
a  pool  that  contained  water  that  had  overflowed 
from  the  stream,  and  thus  had  had  time  to  settle. 
The  disagreeable  flavor  is  not  noticeable  in  coffee, 
but  merely  boiling  the  water  does  not  seem  to 
improve  it.  The  night  was  pitch-dark,  and  we 
could  see  nothing  when  beyond  the  immediate 
reflection  of  our  camp-fire.  Rain  continued 
through  the  early  part  of  the  evening. 

Near  this  natural  camping  spot  are  picturesque 
views  of  cliffs  and  ruins.  To  see  to  advantage 
one  of  the  best  of  these,  which  is  perched  high  up 
on  the  western  side  and  which  is  difficult  to 
detect  without  a  glass,  we  found  it  necessary  to 
climb  the  eastern  wall  of  the  canon  to  a  height 
of  about  two  hundred  feet.  From  here  the  ruin 
seems  quite  inaccessible,  but  may  be  reached 
without  much  difficulty.  The  canon  walls  from 
this  outlook  are  very  bold  and  striking ;  upon  the 
opposite   wall,  coal  shows   in   seams.    A   most 


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MANCOS   CASoN. 


125 


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q: 
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interest!  11  j»  feature  of  the  views  was  a  ^ruiul 
tower  standing  at  the  entrance  to  IJox  Cuflon,  a 
short  f,'or;,'e  to  which  thia  name  has  heen  given, 
though  all  the  very  short  caflona  bear  the  generic 
name  of  "  box  cafions,"  because  they  end  abruptly 
against  high  clitrs,  thus  diirering  from  the  hmg, 
lateral  g»»rges,  which  are  likely  to  oHer  easy 
entrance  from  their  upper  extremities.  In  this 
particular  cleft  there  are  a  number  of  small 
houses  which  have  never  been  in  any  way  ex- 
plored. Our  camp,  in  the  trees  below,  veiled  with 
the  ascending  smoke,  was  very  picturesque. 

A  few  miles  south  of  our  camp  we  found  other 
ruins  in  the  valley ;  they  are  some  distance  from 
the  river,  on  the  western  side,  at  a  point  where 
the  caflon  widens.  It  is  doubtful  if  they  have 
ever  been  described.  Within  a  short  distance  of 
each  other,  two  towers  are  standing,  similar  to 
the  watch-towers  of  the  early  explorers.  The 
ruin  of  the  higher  one  measures  twelve  feet  above 
the  ground.  The  smaller  one  is  six  feet  high,  uid 
twelve  feet  in  diameter.  There  are  ruins  near 
the  latter,  which  are  thirty-six  feet  in  diameter. 
This  building  does  not  show  great  skill  in  work- 
manship, as  the  stones  of  the  walls  do  not  break 
joints. 

Ruins  to  the  south  of  these  towers,  both  upon 


I 


126        THE  LAND  OP  THE   CLIPP-DWELLEBS. 

the  cliff  and  in  the  valley,  have  been  visited  and 
already  described ;  for  this  reason,  and  especially 
bcvjause  we  had  laid  plans  to  ascend  the  mesa  and 
investigate  more  promising  localities  in  the  side 
caSons,  we  did  not  take  the  time  to  examine 
them. 


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"'">"'::-- 

CHAPTER    XII. 


ACOWITZ    CANON. 


ACOWITZ  CANON,  which  joins  the  Mancos 
from  the  east,  is  one  of  the  finest  of  all 
the  side  ramifications,  and  contains  antiquities 
well  worth  investigation  by  the  archaeologist.  A 
good  Indian  trail  traverses  the  whole  length  of 
Mancos  Canon,  and  similar  paths  lead  for  some 
distance  up  its  branches ;  but  to  visit  the  remoter 
ruins  it  is  much  easier  to  ascend  the  walls  of  the 
main  cafion  to  the  surface  of  the  mesa,  ride  across 
the  plateau,  and  thus  strike  the  tributaries  well 
up  toward  their  beginnings :  such  was  our  method 
of  approach  in  the  visit,  the  story  of  which  I  am 
about  to  tell. 

Our  temporary  home  was  a  camp  in  Mancos 
Caiion,  the  situation  of  which  was  described  in  the 
last  chapter.  My  companions  were  Mr.  Howard 
and  Richard  and  John  Wetherill.  Our  outfit 
consisted  of  five  horses  and  one  pack-mule.  One 
of  the  horses,  called  Kaiser,  is  a  splendid  pack- 
horse,  requires  no  leading,  and  finds  his  own  trail. 


It 


It  : 


Ki  "lS 


128        THE   LAND   OP  THE  CLIFF-DWELLERS. 

The  mule  Jiffy  also  served  us  well;  but  one 
night,  though  hobbled,  he  strayed  far  away,  and 
we  saw  him  no  more.  He  probably  joined  Ta- 
bayo's  herd.  This  straying  of  animals  is  one  of 
the  annoyances  of  camp  life,  and  an  extra  man  is 
useful  if  for  no  other  purpose  than  to  "  round  them 
up  "  in  the  early  morning,  for  they  often  roam  a 
long  way  from  camp  in  their  search  for  food. 

It  was  early  on  one  glorious  September  morn- 
ing that  we  four  left  camp,  mounted  upon  our  sev- 
eral animals,  to  ascend  to  the  top  of  the  steep  mesa 
on  the  east,  journeying  by  a  rough  Indian  trail, 
bound  for  some  ruins  in  Acowitz  Cafion.  Near 
the  trail  a  sharp  ridge,  or  dike,  of  igneous  rock 
has  been  thrust  up  through  the  sandstone.  In 
twenty  minutes  we  were  forced  to  dismount  and 
lead  our  horses  the  rest  of  the  way ;  and  as  much 
more  time  spent  in  hard  walking  brought  us  to 
the  flat  summit  of  the  mesa,  perhaps  eighteen 
hundred  feet  above  the  river.  From  this  point  is 
obtained  a  good  view  of  houses  in  Cliff  and  Mancos 
Canons,  also  an  outlook  toward  the  western 
mountains,  —  the  Sierra  El  Late.  An  hour's  ride 
across  the  country,  over  a  comparatively  level 
tract,  through  piflon-pine  and  junipers,  brought 
us  to  a  fork  of  Acowitz  Cafion  in  which  are  cer- 
tain remarkable  ruins. 


■*%■- 


p*^ 


! 


•Ml 


ACOWITZ  CANON. 


129 


l» 


We  tied  our  horses  to  trees  at  some  distance 
from  the  great  ravine.  Here,  as  on  the  edge  of 
many  of  the  other  chasms,  there  is  no  soil,  grass, 
or  trees  within  several  hundred  feet  of  the  brink. 
The  surface  is  smooth  sandstone,  with  here  and 
there  great  hollows  filled  with  rain-water.  These 
places  are  called  "  tanks "  by  the  ranchmen,  and 
are  the  only  sources  of  water  supply  for  deer  or 
cattle  on  the  mesa. 

To  be  exact,  the  group  of  ruins  which  we  pro- 
posed to  photograph  is  situated  on  the  western 
cliff  of  the  third  left-hand  fork  of  Acowitz  Cafion. 
As  one  skirts  the  edge  of  the  abyss  the  structures 
below  are  invisible,  neither  is  there  any  way 
of  descending  to  them;  so  we  worked  our  way 
around  the  head  of  the  gorge  to  the  opposite,  or 
eastern,  side,  and  there  found  a  wall  which  must 
have  been  used  as  a  fortification.  Originally  the 
breastwork  was  built  with  great  care,  for  the 
stones  are  regular  in  shape,  and  have  been  cut  and 
faced.  But  few  of  them  remain  as  placed  by  the 
builders ;  yet  this  little  rampart  gives  a  clew  to 
the  explorer  who  is  hunting  for  a  way  down  into 
the  canon.  Stepping  over  the  tumbled-down 
walls  and  looking  over  the  precipice,  we  found 
hewn  steps  on  the  face  of  the  cliff,  and  descending 
by  them,  as  members  of  the  tribes  must  have  done, 

9 


I  i 


1 


I! 


130        THE   LAND   OP  THE   CLIFF-DWELLERS. 

—  as  perhaps  their  ferocious  adversaries  may  have 
done  also,  —  we  soon  reached  the  bottom  of  the 
gorge,  and  hurriedly  scrambled  up  to  the  interest- 
ing ruins. 

A  strange,  wild,  lonely  caiion.  No  sounds  were 
heard  to  disturb  the  scene  but  the  croaking  of 
ravens  as  they  flew  over  our  heads.  Perhaps 
they  were  wslcoming  us  as  old  friends.^  The 
great  arched  cliff  hangs  high  above  the  ruins ;  but 
a  little  way  from  it  the  cafion  ends  in  sheer  solid 
walls  which  sweep  around  in  a  curve.  Looking 
all  about,  we  see  but  one  exit  above,  and  that  by 
the  steps  which  we  had  descended.  Perched  in  a 
little  cleft  over  our  heads  was  a  second  group  of 
buildings,  apparently  inaccessible  and  in  good 
repair.  I  suggested  that  we  try  to  scale  the  cliff. 
Richard  thought  it  impossible,  and  pointed  to  the 
trunk  of  a  tree  that  leaned  against  the  ledge, 
which  he  had  placed  there,  and  which  failed  by 
some  six  feet  to  reach  the  rounding  sandstone 
terrace  above.  While  our  companions  were  rum- 
maging around  the  lower  rooms,  John  and  I  tried 
our  luck  in  squirming  up  the  tree.     It  was  of  no 

^  American  Antiquarian  and  Oriental  Journal,  vol.  x., 
March,  1888,  No.  2  :  "The  Raven  in  the  Mythology  of  North- 
western America,"  by  James  Deans:  "  Ask  any  of  the  Indians 
*  who  made  the  world  and  all  things  therein,'  and  the  answer 
will  be,  'The  raven.'" 


> 
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1.3 


'  i 


11 


■: 


ACOWITZ   CANON. 


181 


use ;  we  could  not  reach  far  enou«,'h,  ami  there 
was  not  tlie  shghtest  hold  or  crevice  for  the  fin- 
gers. We  got  an  old  beam  from  the  ruined  tloors, 
which  was  a  tritle  longer  than  the  log,  and  fasten- 
ing a  rope  to  one  end,  we  placed  the  timber  up 
against  the  clitf  by  the  side  of  the  other  stick. 
With  the  aid  of  the  rope,  we  could  gain  the  top 
of  the  timber  with  less  expenditure  of  force.  We 
made  several  attempts  in  vain  to  gain  the  ledge, 
each  time  being  obliged  to  come  down  to  rest ; 
but  at  last  my  companion,  whose  arms  and  legs 
were  of  long  reach,  after  removing  much  dust  and 
debris,  was  able  to  get  a  hand-hold,  and  clambered 
up.  I  followed  him,  and  calling  to  our  friends, 
they  sent  up  the  spade  and  camera,  then  mounted 
after  us,  and  we  entered  the  mysterious  rooms. 

How  long  since  human  foot  had  trod  those 
sandstone  tloors  ?  Surely  not  since  the  forgotten 
prehistoric  race  had  deserted  the  caves.  Certainly 
no  white  man  had  ever  entered  these  walls  before, 
and  the  superstitious  Ute  would  not  dare  to  ven- 
ture under  the  shadow  of  the  cliff.  After  our 
difficult  tussle  in  scaling  the  wall,  we  thought  we 
might  be  rewarded  by  finding  some  rare  specimen 
of  the  ceramic  art  known  to  the  dwellers  among 
the  caves,  —  a  graceful  pitcher,  or  a  water  jar, 
standing  on  a  shelf  waiting  to  be  called  for ;  but, 


1! 

1 1 

i 


ll: 


182        THE   LAND   OP  THE   CLIFP-DWELLT^RS. 

on  the  contrary,  there  was  an  air  of  desolation 
around  the  vacant  quarters.  All  was  cleaner  than 
the  ruin  below ;  it  showed  no  signs  of  being  a 
burial-place  or  ground  in  which  it  would  be 
profitable  to  dig.  Undoubtedly  the  best  places 
for  such  examination  are  in  the  lower  ruins. 

But  we  found  the  little  home  of  a  bygone  peo- 
ple unique  and  interesting.  "We  now  made  some 
photographs  of  the  strange  structures.  The  outer 
walls  had  been  built  upon  the  edge  of  the  ledge, 
and  to  investigate  the  different  rooms  we  were 
obliged  to  bend  or  crawl  behind  them,  for  the 
cliff  was  very  low  in  the  rear.  In  one  of  the 
rooms  we  dug  a  little,  but  found  nothing.  The 
door  to  this  room  is  of  peculiar  shape,  being  wider 
at  the  bottom  than  at  the  top ;  we  could  see  no 
reason  for  it.  The  floor  of  the  ledge  was  covered 
with  fine  dust ;  when  disturbed  by  the  spade  it 
raised  a  choking  cloud,  and  forced  the  would-be 
excavator  to  beat  a  retreat.  On  the  south  corner 
is  a  very  curious  little  building  to  which  there  is 
one  entrance.  This,  again,  one  would  take  for  a 
window,  but  that  no  light  could  pass  through  it 
when  the  whole  wall  wa«;  standing.  The  race  of 
Cliff-Dwellers  were  rot  liberal  of  space  when 
they  built  their  doors ;  we  did  not  find  one  high 
enough  to  pass  through  without  bending.     It  was 


\  ■:... 


ACOWITZ   CAJ5[0N. 


183 


a  fasciufttingly  queer  place ;  but  wo  must  ftway, 
for  tiuio-consuniin<jj  caution  must  bo  used  in  tho 
retreat  from  our  citadel.  We  were  struck  with 
the  strength  of  tho  position,  and  believed  tliat  wo 
could  have  kept  in  check  a  small  army  of  primi- 
tive combatants,  if  they  should  have  dared  to 
storm  our  position,  armed,  like  ourselves,  only 
with  stones. 

The  rope  made  our  d<;scent  comparatively  easy. 
My  friend  and  Kichard  went  down  first ;  then  we 
lowered  tho  plates  and  camera,  threw  the  spado 
after  them,  and  I  followed.  John,  as  tho  last 
man,  looped  the  rope  around  a  pile  of  masonry 
and  let  himself  down.  He  reached  out  and  got 
hold  of  the  tree  in  safety ;  but  by  a  little  sliding 
of  the  cord  a  big  rock  was  dislodged,  and  in  fall- 
ing it  crashed  upon  the  package  of  dry-plates,  and 
I  have  two  pictures  fewer  to  show  than  would 
otherwise  have  been  the  case. 

We  now  set  to  work  to  explore  and  photograph 
the  lower  structure.  For  the  latter  work  we 
were  well  equipped.  We  had  three  lenses,  —  a 
Dallmeyer  of  eleven  inches  focal  length,  one  of 
nine  inches,  and  one  of  four  and  one  half  inches. 
The  Dallmeyer  was  used  for  all  distant  views,  and 
as  often  as  possible  to  prevent  any  distortion ;  but 
even  the  lens  of  shortest  focus  had  often  to  be 


\  '<§ 


134        THE  LAND   OP  THE   CLIFF-DWELLERS. 

brought  in  play  when  in  among  the  ruins  and  for 
taking  interior  views.  Many  partu  of  the  struc- 
ture were  in  a  good  state  of  preservation ;  sticks 
and  support?  were  still  intact.  Floors  were  made 
of  sills  of  cedar,  willow  sticks  were  then  laid  over, 
and  the  whole  was  covered  with  plaster.  In  most 
cases  the  floors  have  fallen  in.  We  noticed  some 
peculiar  arrangements :  one  such  was  a  sort  of  low 
cubby-hole,  outside  of  the  main  structure,  which 
was  eight  feet  front  and  five  feet  deep,  with  two 
little  doors.  This  may  have  been  used  as  a  store- 
room. We  found  much  broken  pottery,  —  frag- 
ments of  large  bowls  which  it  would  be  possible 
partially  to  restore. 

One  very  remarkable  thing,  which  showed  the 
eccentricity  of  the  builders,  was  a  room  which 
appeared  to  have-  no  entrance.  In  fact,  I  walked 
around  it  once  without  discovering  that  I  had 
passed  a  room.  A  little  investigation  revealed  an 
entrance  from  the  top.  The  enclosure  was  eight 
feet  square,  the  entrance  a  hole  seventeen  and  a 
half  inches  aperture.  The  ceiling,  of  wood,  was 
plastered  over,  and  was  very  firm.  Any  photog- 
raphers who  may  be  looking  for  a  dark  room  in 
which  to  change  plates  at  mid-day  when  in  this 
locality  will  find  this  room  as  good  a  place  as 
could  be  desired.     From  its  top  I  took  a  photo- 


il 


! 


p  I 


A     PRIMITIVE     GRINDSTONE. 


ACOWITZ   CANON. 


135 


graph  of  one  end  of  the  edifice,  as  it  was  a  good 
view-point.  We  took  advantage  of  this  position 
to  photograph  some  interesting  grooves  on  a  ledge 
of  smooth  sandstone  which  is  at  the  base  of  the 
walls.  This  was  accomplished  by  placing  the 
camera  flat  on  the  roof  of  the  enclosed  room,  and 
letting  the  lens  hang  over.  These  grooves  in  the 
rock  were  made  by  the  natives  in  sharpening  their 
tools ;  most  of  them  were  large,  and  probably  used 
for  grinding  axe-edges.  On  another  ledge  we 
observed  smaller  ones,  where  awls,  knives,  and 
needles  were  whetted. 

One  of  the  central  rooms  is  well  plastered, 
smooth  as  a  modern  wall.  A  round  room  had 
piers  below  the  ground  floor.  These  piers  also 
are  plastered.  In  the  sides  of  the  walls  were 
little  recesses  which  may  have  been  used  as 
shelves.  There  is  also  a  door  similar  to  the  one 
that  we  saw  and  photographed  in  Mancos  Canon. 
Above  this  door  the  walls  are  hollow. 

We  had  not  the  time  at  c-r  disposal  to  excavate 
among  the  rubbish,  but  the  slightest  investigation 
showed  that  the  place  was  rich  in  relics.  A  little 
scraping  away  of  the  earth  revealed  human  bones, 
cloths,  matting,  etc.  From  this  cliff-house  the 
Wetherills  and  their  companions  have  obtained 
many  specimens.  .  \ 


ii 


136        THE  LAND   OP  THE  CLIFF-DWELLERS. 


In  walking  among  these  ruins  one  passes  over 
tumbled-down  walls  and  crosses  remnants  of 
shaky  floors  of  charred  cedar.  My  companion 
noticed  fossil  shell  impressions  on  a  stone  which 
had  been  used  in  the  building. 

Early  in  the  afternoon  Mr.  Howard  and  John 
Wetherill  returned  to  camp,  while  Eichard  and  I 
started  off  on  a  tour  of  investigation.  We  dis- 
covered some  houses  in  the  fourth  left-hand  fork 
of  Acowitz  Canon,  a  place  that  had  never  been 
visited  before.  Here  stands  a  good  circular  room 
with  I  /  t  )ors.  On  the  sandstone  plateau,  near 
the  brink  f  the  gorge,  is  the  most  remarkable 
crevasse  that  I  ever  saw.  I  called  Eichard's 
attention  to  it,  and  I  hope  he  will  show  it  to 
those  who  may  travel  with  him  in  future.  In 
a  land  where  erosion  has  played  such  a  part 
in  modelling  the  face  of  the  country,  a  crack  is 
phenomenal.  Unfortunately,  I  made  no  meas- 
urements, and  cannot  give  a  reliable  descrip- 
,tion ;  but  it  was  more  than  a  h'^ndred  feet  long, 
and  about  a  foot  in  width.  It  was  inclined 
at  a  considerable  angle,  and  the  bottoin  could 
not  be  seen.  It  would  be  an  awful  place  to 
fall  into,  as  man  or  animal  would  be  wedged 
in,  and  assistance  could  not  avail.  It  made  me 
shudder  to  look  into  it,  though  standing  on  the 


\n 


# 
v- 


Plan  of  port  of  Cliff  Hbu«e  in  Acowif*  Co?ron. 


?  lO  15 

^  ■'■■■■'■■   r  -H 


! 

i 


I* 


,    I  .'■■ 

,1  ( 


V^^- 


AN     IMPREGNABLE    FORT. 


ACOWITZ   CANON. 


187 


edge  of  a  high    cliff    would  produce   no   such 
sensations. 

From  this  box-canon  we  went  far  up  on  the 
main  gulch,  leaving  our  horses  behind.  From  a 
pocket  of  the  canon  we  had  remarkable  views 
down  the  whole  length  of  Acowitz  to  the  Mancos, 
and  then  through  that  depression  to  the  magnifi- 
cent-mesa which  stands  above  the  river's  place  of 
exit.  It  was  a  truly  sublime  sight.  I  photo- 
graphed the  view,  but  the  camera  fails  to  show  the 
beauties  of  the  distant  lines.  The  nearer  scene 
is  a  wild  one :  quaking  aspens  grow  in  the  upper 
part  of  the  gorge,  and  in  the  bottom  are  tall, 
stately  pines  which  climb  to,  the  height  of  the 
top  walls,  and  were  even  with  our  eyes  as  we 
looked  across  the  canon. 

I  lost,  from  a  stupid  double-exposure,  several 
very  interesting  negatives  of  a  weird  ruin,  almost 
inaccessible,  which  occupies  a  secluded  cavern  in 
this  caflon.  One  single  picture,  however,  which 
is  left  to  me,  shows  the  remarkable  structure  of 
the  cliffs,  and  the  beautiful  curve  which  they 
make  as  they  sweep  around  to  the  east.  What 
a  dark  and  gloomy  place  did  these  mysterious 
people  select  for  their  home,  or  fortress,  whichever 
name  we  may  give  to  it!  A  stronghold  surely 
it  was,  impregnable  to  a  foe  armed  only  with 


<] 


w^^ 


188        THE  LAND  OP  THE  CLIFF-DWELLERS. 

arrows  and  clubs.  The  great  cliff  spanning  over 
it  shielded  the  inhabitants  from  all  attack  from 
the  tableland  above  them ;  and  the  vertical  cliffs 
below  could  not  be  scaled  when  rocks  were  being 
hurled  from  battlement  and  tower  above. 

As  the  sun  was  already  sinking  in  the  west, 
we  could  not  examine  closer  this  remote  struc- 
ture, but  hurried  back  to  our  horses,  and  reached 
our  quarters  long  after  dark. 


■•/ 


■^       "'y 


/• 


\  :• 


f- 


: 


u 
< 
-J 
< 

a. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

CLIFF  CAf^ON. 

NARROW  winding  defiles,  precipitous  walls, 
bold  headlands,  and  overhanging  ledges  are 
the  characteristics  of  Cliff  Caflon,  and  within  its 
labyrinths  are  most  remarkable  ruins.  Here  it 
was  that  Richard  Wetherill  found  a  large  struc- 
ture, which  he  has  called  the  "  Cliff-palace."  ^  This 
ruin,  which  is  situated  in  a  branch  of  the  left  hand 
fork,  can  be  reached  in  about  five  hours  from  Man- 
cos  Caflon.  A  long  dayV  ride  over  the  mesa  from 
the  ranches  will  also  accomplish  the  distance  ;  but 
the  journey  from  the  Mancos  is  by  far  the  easier 
of  the  two. 

On  reaching  the  brink  of  the  caflon  opposite 
the  wonderful  structure,  the  observer  cannot  but 
be  astonished  at  the  first  sight  of  the  long  line  of 
solid  masonry  which  he  beholds  across  the  chasm, 
here  but  a  thousand   feet  wide.      In  the   first 

1  Cliff  CaBou  was  visited  some  years  ago  by  a  prospector 
named  Osbom,  who,  however,  did  not  penetrate  far  into  the 
heart  of  the  mesa.  He  is  to  be  credited  with  the  discovery  of 
a  ruin  called  the  "  Brown-stone  front:  "  (Montezuma  Journal 
ICortez],  Jan.  26,   1889). 


:^ 


140 


THE  LAND   OP  THE   CLIFF-DWELLERS. 


burst  of  entliusiasm  it  strikes  one  as  being  the 
ruins  of  a  great  palace  erected  by  some  powerful 
chieftain  of  the  lost  people.  The  best  time  to  see 
the  ruin  is  in  the  afternoon,  when  the  sun  is 
shining  into  the  cavern.  The  effect  is  much  finer 
than  when  viewed  in  the  morning.  Surely  its 
discoverer  did  not  exa^'rerate  the  beauty  and 
magnitude  of  this  strange  ruin.  It  occupies  a 
great  space  under  a  grand  oval  cliff,  appearing 
like  a  ruined  fortress,  with  ramparts,  bastions, 
and  dismantled  towers.  The  stones  in  front  have 
broken  away ;  but  behind  them  rise  the  walls  of 
a  second  story,  and  in  the  rear  of  these,  in  under 
the  dark  cavern,  stands  the  third  tier  of  masonry. 
Still  farther  back  in  the  gloomy  recess,  little 
houses  rest  on  upper  ledges.  A  short  distance 
down  the  canon  are  cosey  buildings  perched  in 
utterly  inaccessible  nooks.  The  scenery  is  mar- 
vellous :  the  view  down  the  caiion  to  the  Mancos 
alone  is  worth  the  journey  to  see. 

To  reach  the  ruin,  one  must  descend  into  the 
canon  from  the  opposite  side.  What  would  other- 
wise be  a  hazardous  proceeding  is  rendered  easy 
by  using  the  steps  which  were  cut  iu  the  wall  by 
the  builders  of  the  fortress.  There  are  fifteen  of 
these  scooped-out  hollows  in  the  rock,  which  cover 
perhaps  half  of  the  distance  down  the  precipice. 


t 


\ 


i  I 


! 


i 

1 


CLIFF  CANON. 


141 


I 


i  ■ 


At  that  point  tlie  cliff  has  probably  fallen  away ; 
but,  luckily  for  the  purpose  of  the  adventurer,  a 
dead  tree  leans  against  the  wall,  and  descending 
into  its  branches,  he  can  reach  the  base  of  the 
parapet.  One  wonders  at  the  good  preservation 
of  these  hand-holes  in  the  rocks ;  even  small  cut- 
tings, to  give  place  for  a  finger,  are  sometimes 
placed  exactly  right  even  in  awkward  places.  It 
is  evident  why  they  were  so  placed,  and  that  they 
have  not  been  changed  by  the  forces  of  the  air  in 
the  several  hundred  years  that  have  probably 
elapsed  since  they  were  chipped  out  by  an  axe 
made  of  firmer  rock.  There  occurs  to  my  mind 
but  one  explanation  of  this  preservation :  erosion 
by  wind  is  one  of  the  important  factors  in  chisel- 
ling rock  forms  about  the  Mancos,  and  as  we  ob- 
served sand  in  these  hollows,  we  suppose  the  wind 
at  times  keeps  the  grains  eddying  round,  and  thus 
the  erosion  in  the  depression  keep^  pace,  perhaps 
even  gains,  on  tae  rate  of  denudation  of  the 
smooth  cliffs. 

It  takes  but  a  few  miuiiLcs  to  crosp  the  canon 
bed.  In  the  bottom  is  a  secondary  guich,  which 
requires  care  in  descending.  We  hung  a  )pe  or 
lasso  over  some  steep  smooth  ledger,  and  let  our- 
selves down  by  it.  We  left  it  hanging  there,  and; 
used  it  to  ascend  by  on  our  return. 


ill 


! 


142       THE  LAND  OP  THE   CLIFF-DWELLERS. 

Nearer  approach  increases  the  interest  in  the 
marvel.  From  the  south  end  of  the  ruin  which 
is  first  attained,  trees  hide  the  northern  walls ;  yet 
the  view  is  beautiful.  The  space  covered  by  the 
building  is  four  hundred  and  twenty-five  feet 
long,  eighty  feet  high  in  front,  and  eighty 
feet  deep  in  the  centre.  One  hundred  and 
twenty-four  rooms  have  been  traced  out  on  the 
ground  floor.  So  many  walls  have  fallen  that  it 
is  difficult  to  reconstruct  the  building  in  imagina- 
tion ;  but  the  photographs  show  that  there  must 
have  been  several  stories ;  thus  a  thousand  persons 
may  easily  have  lived  within  its  confines.  There 
are  towers  and  circular  rooms,  square  and  rectan- 
gular enclosures,  all  with  a  seeming  symmetry, 
though  in  some  places  the  walls  look  as  if  they 
had  been  put  up  as  additions  in  later  periods. 
One  of  the  towers  is  barrel-shaped ;  others  are 
true  cylinders.  The  diameter  of  one  circular 
room,  or  estufa,  is  sixteen  feet  and  six  inches; 
there  are  six  piers  in  it,  which  are  well  plastered, 
and  five  recess-holes,  which  appear  as  if  constructed 
for  shelves.    In  several  rooms  are  good  fireplaces.  ^ 

^  Fireplaces  have  been  rarely  observed  among  the  cliff- 
dwellings  ;  Mr.  Holmes  writes  of  one  in  Mancos  Gallon 
(Hayden's  Report,  1878 ;  see  illustration,  plate  xxxiii. 
fig.  6).  Dr.  Fewkes  describes  fireplaces  in  ruins  near  Zuni: 
"There  is  a  great  similarity  in  the  internal  arrangement  of 


z 

H 

m 

c 

O 

o 
c 

D 

o 
c 
2 


M 


Hi 


! 

i; 


.  > 


MURAL    DECORATION. 


w-^'^ww^wi 


CUFF  CAf^ON. 


148 


1 


:\ 


One  of  our  party  built  a  fire  in  the  largest  one, 
which  had  a  flue,  but  found  the  draught  too 
strong,  for  his  light  wood  came  near  going  up 
with  the  smoke.  In  another  room,  where  the 
outer  walls  have  fallen  away,  an  attempt  was 
made  at  ornamentation :  a  broad  band  had  been 
painted  across  the  wall,  and  above  it  is  a  peculiar 
decoration  which  is  shown  in  one  of  the  illustra- 
tions. The  lines  were  similar  to  embellishment 
on  the  pottery  which  we  found.  In  one  place 
corn-cobs  are  imbedded  in  the  plaster  in  the 
walls,  showing  that  the  cob  is  as  old  as  that  por- 
tion of  the  dwelling.     The  cobs,  as  well  as  ker- 


the  several  chambers  which  have  been  ercavated.  We  often 
find  iu  one  corner  a  square  flue  resembling  a  chimney,  which 
may  or  may  not  be  open  below  on  the  floor  of  the  room.  These 
flues  are  made  of  small  stones,  and  are  covered  with  mud  on  the 
interior.  In  one  room  there  were  two  of  these  flue-like  struc- 
tures,  which  were  placed  side  by  side.  From  the  small  size  of 
the  rooms  and  the  absence  of  evidences  of  smoke  in  these  flues, 
one  is  reluctant  to  admit  that  firas  were  extensively  used  in  these 
chambers.  Still,  in  some  there  is  good  evidence  of  Are.  In  the 
Chaco  ruins,  according  to  F.  T.  Bickford  ('  Century  Magazine,' 
October,  1890),  'neither  fireplaces  nor  flues  are  to  be  found, 
and  it  is  probable  that  fires  were  never  built  in  the  living  apart- 
ments.* While  this  may  be  true  of  the  Chaco  ruins,  which  are 
similar  to  those  of  the  Zu&i  reservation,  it  is  certainly  not  true 
of  all  the  rooms  in  Hesh-o-ta-uthla.  More  research  is  necessary 
to  settle  this  point."  (A  Journal  of  American  Ethnology  and 
Archaeology,  edited  by  J.  Walter  Fewkes,  p.  108  ;  Houghton, 
Mifflin  &  Co.,  Boston,  1891).     ■ 


w 


i44        THE   LAND   OP   THE   CLIFF-DWELLERS. 

nels  of  corn  which  we  found,  are  of  small  size, 
similar  to  what  the  Ute  squaws  raise  now  with- 
out irrigation.  Besides  corn,  it  is  known  that  the 
race  of  Clifl'-Dwellers  raised  beans  and  squash ;  we 
frequently  picked  up  stems  of  the  latter.  It  is  not 
known  that  they  owned  domestic  animals,  but  they 
had  turkeys.^  We  found  a  large  stone  mortar, 
which  may  have  been  used  to  grind  the  corn. 
Broken  pottery  was  everywhere,  similar  to  speci- 
mens which  we  had  collected  in  among  the  valley 
ruins,  convincing  us  of  the  identity  of  the  build- 
ers of  the  two  classes  of  houses ;  and  we  found 
parts  of  skulls  and  bones,  fragments  of  weapons, 
and  pieces  of  cloth.  One  nearly  comi)lete  skele- 
ton lies  on  a  wall,  waiting  for  some  future  anti- 
quarian. The  burial-place  of  the  clan  was  down 
under  the  rear  of  the  cave. 

Notwithstanding  the  imposing  name  which  we 
have  given  it,  and  which  its  striking  appearance 
seems  to  justify,  it  was  a  communistic  dwelling. 
There  is  no  hall  leading  through  it,  and  no  signs 
that  it  was  a  home  prepared  for  a  ruler  of  the 
people.  It  owes  its  beauty  principally  to  the 
remains  of  two  towers;  it  probably  owes  its 
magnitude  to  the  fact  that  the  length  of  the 
platform  and  depth   and  height  of  the  natural 

1  The  pueblos  had  sheep  after  the  coming  of  the  Spaniards. 


t  •■ 


n 

r 

'n 
-n 

I 


n 


:o 


m 


CLIFF  CANON.  145 

arch  allowed  of  such  a  building  in  such  a  remote 
quarter.* 

Naturally  this  huge  ruin  interested  us  as  much 
as  anytliing  that  we  met  with  in  our  trips.  It 
deserves  study  by  expert  archaeologists.  Thor- 
ough and  careful  excavation  would  perhaps  re- 
veal many  relics  which  might  throw  light  on  the 
early  history  of  the  primitive  inhabitants.  It  is 
to  be  hoped,  however,  that  any  work  which  may 
be  done  here  in  the  future  will  be  carried  on  un- 
der competent  supervision,  and  that  the  walls  will 
not  be  damaged  in  any  way.  Collectors,  so  far, 
have  been  very  thoughtful.  With  a  suitable  ap- 
propriation, this  structure  could  be  so  arranged 
that  it  could  be  converted  into  a  museum,  and  be 
filled  with  relics  of  the  lost  people,  and  become 
one  of  the  attractions  of  southern  Colorado. 

*  This  large  open  cavo,  as  well  as  others  that  I  have  described, 
are  natural,  and  do  not  appear  to  have  been  enlarged  in  any  way  by 
man.  Lower  down  on  the  Mancos  River  are  small  caves  which 
have  been  deepened  and  the  entrances  walled  up. 


10 


..I 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


I 


!'! 


I)- 

liitV     ' 


■     J I 


■11 


NAVAJO   CANON. 

NAVAJO  CANON  is  a  tributary  of  Mancos 
Canon  from  the  northwest.  It  joins,  near 
the  southern  extremity  (there  being  but  one 
branch  south  of  it),  r.  much  smaller  one,  called 
Ute  Canon.  With  three  great  branches  of  its  own, 
Navajo  Canon  much  exceeds  the  Mancos  itself  in 
the  number  of  miles  of  cliff- front.  ^  The  differ- 
ent arms  are  of  about  the  same  size,  and  unite 
into  one  near  the  Mancos.  Euins  are  found  —  over 
a  hundred  in  all  —  in  these  three  nearly  parallel 
gorges  and  in  many  short  box-canons  which  ex- 
tend out  on  all  sides.  Many  of  these  remains  of 
the  cliff-dwelling  people  are  unimportant.  They 
are  either  very  small,  or  have  for  the  most  part 
crumbled  away.  Others  are  well  preserved,  and 
appear  as  if  only  very  recently  deserted.  Such  a 
one  exists,  perched  high  up  on  a  cliff"  that  looks, 
when  seen  from  the  bed  of  the  canon,  as  if  newly 
constructed.     Timbers  project  through  the  high 


,  t 


1' 


1  I  hardly  dare  to  esiii.uate  tlic  number  of  miles,  but  it  must 
be  o\er  a  hundred. 


|i' 


II 


r 

o 


^ 

I 

m 


-^ 


NAVAJO   CANON. 


147 


walls,  but  there  is  no  opening  below  them.  One 
of  my  comrades  gained  an  entrance  by  splicing 
poles  together,  and  climbing  up  to  the  top  of  the 
walls.  He  found  in  the  interior  ten  whole  pieces 
of  pottery  in  plain  sight.  The  inhabitants  used 
coal  for  fuel. 

In  another  cafion  are  three  interesting  ruins  in 
close  proximity  on  the  same  side  of  the  gorge. 
The  primitive  families  might  have  been  very 
neighborly  if  they  had  chosen  to  be.  In  one  of 
these  houses  is  a  fireplace  which  has  a  raised 
hearth  and  fender ;  this  was  built  of  stones,  and 
plastered.  In  one  of  the  other  houses,  in  an 
estufa,  or  circular  room,  is  a  fireplace  which  was 
once  honored  with  a  chimney ;  some  of  the  work 
remains.  These  ruins  can  be  reached  from  the 
mesa  by  descending  through  a  cleft  in  the  rocks. 
It  is  not  a  difficult  feat  to  perform,  except  when 
one  is  burdened  with  a  heavy  pack. 

Perhaps  the  best-preserved  remains  of  a  clitf- 
dwelling  eyrie  —  at  least  one  that  retains  more 
features  of  interest  than  many  of  the  other  ruins 
—  is  one  that  is  situated  in  a  right-hand  branch 
of  the  second  large  right-hand  fork  of  Navajo 
Caiion.i  It  is  about  three  hundred  feet  long. 
Under   a  natural   sheltering   rock,   remains   are 

*  This  is  applicable  to  one  going  up  the  course  of  the  caiion. 


!■■?! 


^TT 


148        THE  LAND   OF  THE   CLIFF-DWELLERS. 


: .    5 

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standing  of  three  stories.  Originally  the  building 
was  probably  five  stories  high,  and  was  built  in  the 
form  of  a  terrace,  the  two  lower  tiers  having  been 
built  outside  the  limits  of  the  arch,  and  lower 
than  the  platform  of  the  cave,  so  that  what  we 
now  see  standing  are  the  three  upper  stories. 
The  lower  parts  of  the  edifice,  more  exposed  to 
weathering,  have  mostly  crumbled  away.  The 
entrance  to  apartments  in  the  cave  was  probably 
made  by  passing  over  the  top  of  the  outside 
buildings. 

In  one  portion  of  the  ruin,  at  the  base  of  the 
doors  to  the  upper  rooms,  are  many  timbers  which 
project  out  from  the  wall.  Though  the  floor  of 
the  scaffolding  has  all  fallen  away,  this  would 
seem  to  show  that  there  was  once  a  balcony 
here. 

The  masonry  of  the  building  is  all  of  very  good 
order;  the  stones  were  laid  in  mortar,  and  the 
plastering  carefully  put  on,  though,  as  the  cen- 
turies have  elapsed,  it  has  peeled  off  in  certain 
spots.  At  the  north  end  of  the  ruin  is  a  specimen 
of  masonry  not  to  be  seen  in  any  other  cliff-house 
yet  discovered.  This  is  a  plastered  stone  pier 
which  supports  the  walls  of  an  upper  loft.  It  is 
ten  inches  square,  and  about  four  feet  high.  Rest- 
ing on  it  are  spruce  timbers  \/iiich  run  from  an 


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NAVAJO  CAr^ON. 


149 


outer  wall  across  the  pier  to  the  back  of  the  cava 
Above  the  pier  is  a  good  specimen  of  a  T-shaped 
door,  with  lintel  of  wood  and  sill  of  stone.^ 

One  lintel  was  made  with  eleven  small  sticks 
about  three  quarters  of  an  inch  in  diameter,  which 
were  very  smoothly  plastered  over.  The  Hoors 
were  also  made  in  the  same  manner,  by  placing 
twigs  and  mud  over  the  sills.  Lying  among  the 
d<^bris  are  masses  of  plaster  which  show  the 
grooves  made  by  the  sticks  and  twigs,  and  many 
fragments  of  mortar  still  hold  the  sticks  imbed- 
ded in  them.  Sills  and  beams  were  neatly 
smoothed  on  the  upper  surfaces. 

Much  caie  was  used  in  finishing  the  walls;  lit- 
tle holes  were  filled  up  with  small  stones  or 
chinked  with  pieces  of  broken  pottery;  of  both 
painted  and  indented  ware.  Some  of  the  walls 
are  decorated  with  lines  similar  to  those  described 
as  existing  in  the  cliff-palace.  Other  designs  are 
somewhat  different.  One  of  more  interest  is  a 
rude  picture  which  represents  two  turkeys  fight- 
ing. Below  one  opening  we  found  the  door  that 
originally  closed  it.  This  door  was  a  thin  stone 
slab  fourteen  and  a  half  inches  wide  at  one  end, 

1  I  have  described  piers  as  existing  in  some  estufas,  hut  they 
are  built  into  the  main  walls.  This  pier  is  detached,  and  stands 
by  itself. 


M 


150        THE  LAND  OP  THE  CLIPP-DWELLEB8. 


ri 


and  fifteen  and  a  half  inches  wide  at  the  other 
end,  and  two  feet  and  one  inch  high.  It  had  an 
average  thickness  of  an  inch.  Imbedded  in  the 
walls,  upon  each  side  of  the  opening,  were  staples 
made  from  loops  of  willow.  Lying  at  the  base 
of  the  entrance  was  the  stick  which  had  held  the 
door  in  place.  We  put  both  in  their  proper 
positions,  and  the  result  shows  in  the  accompany- 
ing illustration.  There  were  several  of  these 
slabs  lying  among  the  mass  of  stones. 

In  one  room  is  a  fireplace;  but  as  there  was 
no  chimney,  the  walls  were  blackened  by  the 
smoke. 

On  the  outer  edge  of  the  ruin,  beyond  the  pro- 
tection of  the  overhanging  cliff,  is  a  spruce-tree 
which  has  grown  from  the  centre  of  a  room  whose 
walls  have  fallen.  This  tree  is  about  eighty  feet 
high,  and,  measured  at  a  point  twenty  inches 
from  the  ground,  it  is  three  feet  and  three  inches 
in  diameter.  Judging  from  the  rate  of  growth  of 
forests  in  moister  climates,  we  presume  that  this 
tTPi  must  be  at  least  two  hundred  years  old,  and 
we  have  here  one  slight  clew  as  to  the  shortest 
limit  of  time  that  must  be  put  on  the  interval 
passed  since  its  desertion  by  its  occupants  or  their 
extermination.  The  building  must  have  been  va- 
cated, then  the  walls  given  time  to  crumble  and 


STONE     PIER. 


NAVAJO   CANON. 


151 


fall  away,  before  the  seed  couUl  have  taken  root. 
How  long  a  time  this  occupied,  probably  no  one 
will  ever  know.  To  obtain  an  approximaU^  knowl- 
edge of  the  age  of  the  tree,  one  of  the  same  size 
could  be  cut  from  the  caflon  near  by,  and  the 
rings  of  growth  be  counted.  To  cut  tliis  parti<m- 
lar  tree,  would  be  to  destroy  a  picturesque  adjunct 
to  the  ruin,  and  to  obliterate  a  monument  to  *cs 


age.i 


In  describing  some  other  ruins,  I  must  say 
that  I  cannot  locate  them  exactly  on  the  map. 
Our  approach  to  them  was  from  a  camp  in  the 
bed  of  one  of  the  main  branches  ;  but  we  travelled 
so  far  through  seemingly  interminable  ravines, 
and  crossed  so  many  gorges,  that  we  lost  track  of 
their  number. 

At  the  end  of  a  box-cafion  is  one  of  the  grand- 
est natural  arches  in  the  region.  On  the  ledge 
under  this  arch  was  once  a  great  building ;  but  as 
the  cave  is  very  damp,  most  of  the  structure  has 
fallen.  The  stones  and  remains  of  pottery  and 
implements  have  been  disintegrated,  and  little 
remains  that  is  of  special  interest.  One  remark- 
able feature,  however,  deserves  mention,  —  a  great 
stairway  leading  down  to  the  ruin.  But  for  this, 
the  investigator  would  be  obliged  to  make  a 
1  See  illustration  facing  p.  156. 


152        THE  LAND   OF   THE  CLIFF-DWELLERS. 


long  d(!'tour,  nnd  follow  the  cnRon  bed  for  some 
distance.  There  are  eij^hty  of  these  stone  steps. 
Some  are  natural,  others  were  cut  in  the  ledges, 
while  more  are  stone  slabs  simply  fitted  into 
place.     The  descent  is  thus  made  with  ease. 

There  is  another  miglity  arch  in  one  of  the 
Navajo  cafions  which  shelters  a  ruin  well  worthy 
of  desf- option.  This  building  is  visible  from  the 
brink  of  the  caflon,  as  one  journeys  up  its  length. 
To  find  a  place  to  descend,  one  must  round  the 
head  of  the  caflon,  and  follow  a  long  winding 
route  over  and  under  ledges  to  the  caRon  bed. 
The  noble  arch  rises  a  hundred  feet  above  the 
natural  platform.  The  sloping  bed  of  tlie  caflon 
reaches  to  the  base  of  this  platform,  which  rises 
like  a  terrace  to  a  height  of  about  twentv  feet. 
Trees  and  bushes  grow  up  to  the  base  of  the 
ledge.  The  ledge  is  approximately  four  hundred 
and  eighty  feet  long,  as  we  determined  by  pacing. 
This  is  the  largest  cliff-dwelling  yet  discovered  in 
this  region.  The  front  walls  were  built  upon  the 
rim  of  the  platform,  which  is  curved  to  the  gen- 
eral form  of  the  amphitheatre,  and  gives  the  build- 
ing the  appearance  of  an  impregnable  fortress. 
The  walls,  of  solid  masonry,  remain  firm,  and  pre- 
sent an  imposing  front.  In  the  centre  the  stones 
have  broken  away  in  such  a  manner  as  to  leave 


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PLASTERED     AND     FAINTED     WALL. 


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NAVAJO    CANON. 


153 


standing  a  high  wall,  which  gives  a  gothic  ap- 
pearance to  the  ruin. 

At  one  end  three  stories  remafn  stn Tiling  ;  the 
upper  room  is  squf'ezed  in  under  the  arch,  and 
was  entered  by  a  low  duf,«r.  TL*'-4e  high -stand- 
ing walls  show  how  the  'ditf-dwellings  were  origi- 
nally constructed.  They  reached  to  the  roof  of 
the  cave,  and  were  necessarilv  liigher  in  front 
than  in  the  rear,  for  the  cliffs  make  over  tliem  an 
arch  which  S('>:ved  as  a  natural  roof. 

As  first  built,  much  more  space  than  the  plat- 
form was  utilized,  and  a  lower  terrace  occupied. 
Walls  that  divided  rooms  and  formed  the  ends 
of  the  structure  run  down  among  the  trees  and 
bushes;  the  lateral  walls  have  all  fallen  down. 
In  some  places,  where  the  ground  is  steeply  in- 
clined, the  stones  of  the  ruin  lie  like  talus  on  a 
mountain  side. 

On  ledges  above  the  main  edifice  are  smaller 
buildings,  and  in  one  cranny  is  a  long,  low  struc- 
ture with  thirteen  loop-holes  in  front  and  two  at 
the  end.  Those  in  front  open  at  different  angles, 
so  that  any  approach  from  below  could  be  ob- 
served by  the  watching  cliff-climbers.^ 

This  ruin,  if  undisturbed,  will  doubtless  remain 


1  From  this  fact  I  havp  named  this  ruin  the  "Loop-hole  Fort- 
ress." Occasionally  it  is  referred  to  here  as  the  "  Crenellated 
Fortress." 


it 


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I- 


154        THE   LAND    OP  THE   CLIFF-DWELLERS. 

for  centuries  in  about  its  present  condition,  and 
cannot  but  fascinate  the  archaeologists  who  shall 
chance  to  visit  it  Perhaps  these  same  ruins,  if 
placed  on  a  plain  or  in  a  quiet  valley,  would  not 
appeal  so  strongly  to  our  sense  of  the  marvellous ; 
here,  in  a  remote  canon,  far  from  the  river,  far 
from  water  of  any  kind,  with  high  frowning  walls 
upon  three  sides,  and  an  untracked  ravine  below 
it,  one  wonders  why  the  lost  tribes  should  have 
selected  such  a  place  for  their  home. 

The  standing  masonry  in  itself  is  of  interest. 
The  solid  front  does  not  give  the  idea  of  patch- 
work, as  presented  in  many  of  the  buildings  of  the 
Cliff-Dwellers.  Standing  on  the  parapet  and  look- 
ing along  the  front  line,  there  is  not  a  break  to  be 
seen  in  its  continuity,  except  as  the  platform 
bulges  in  or  out.  Save  that  the  stones  were  al- 
ready at  hand,  shapen  by  the  elements,  as  they 
had  broken  off  from  the  cliffs  and  overhanging 
ledges,  the  marvel  would  be  greater  that  a  people 
with  only  stone  and  wooden  tools  could  have  ac- 
complished such  a  work. 

The  light  of  noonday  floods  the  walls  of  the 
ramparts,  and  penetrates  into  the  deep  recesses 
of  the  cave;  but;  as  the  sun  sinks  westward,  a 
dark  shadow  creeps  across  the  front  of  the  cavern, 
and  the  interior  is  in  deep  gloom.    It  is  then  that 


CORNER     FIRE-FLACE. 


i!i|: 


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Ui 

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tn 
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NAVAJO   CANON. 


155 


the  explorer,  standing  among  the  crumbled  walls 
and  gazing  up  at  the  loop-holes  above,  or  follow- 
ing with  his  eye  the  course  of  the  caiion  down  to 
its  end  where  it  joins  the  greater  gorge,  wonders 
what  events  happened  to  cause  this  strong  fortress 
to  be  deserted  or  overthrown.  There  must  have 
been  a  fearful  struggle  between  a  people  who 
were  emerging  from  barbarism,  and  more  savage 
hordes,  or  some  great  catastrophe  of  Nature  over- 
whelmed them. 


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CHAPTER  XV. 


ARCHAEOLOGICAL    NOTES, 


i!i 


I       < 

I  ! 


OUR  first  vacation  drew  to  a  close,  and  we 
soon  took  our  way  eastward,  passing  through 
San  Luis  Park,  then  under  Sierra  Blanca  and  over 
Veta  Pass  to  the  plainSi  A  heavy  fall  of  snow, 
and  on-coming  cold  nights,  deterred  us  from  at- 
tacking the  peaks  of  the  Sangre  de  Cristo  range, 
and  we  turned  our  backs  on  the  Rockies  for  a 
year.  Yet  the  memory  of  great  peaks  and 
archaeological  wonders  went  with  us,  and  the  lat- 
ter were  kept  constantly  before  us  by  reminders 
from  the  old  comrades,  who  sent  us  many  relics 
which  they  found  in  their  continued  explorations 
and  excavations  in  the  wondrous  canons.  These 
relics  were  of  especial  value  to  us,  for  during  our 
expeditions  the  time  was  principally  consumed  in 
photographing  the  ruins  for  picturesque  features 
and  also  in  detail ;  we  had  but  little  time  to  dig. 
It  was  in  the  interval  that  elapsed  between 
our  two  trips  that  the  Wetherills  made  their 
systematic  excavations,  though  previous  to  this 
they  had  collected  valuable  material,  which  now 


i  I 


I  I 


SPRUCE    TREE    IN    NAVAJO    CANON. 


ARCHAEOLOGICAL   NOTES. 


167 


rests  in  the  rooms  of  the  Historical  Society  of 
Colorado  at  Denver. 

The  story  of  the  inception  ot"  this  work  is  as 
follows :  One  day  Kichard  was  riding  on  the  Mesa 
Verde,  looking  for  some  strayed  cattle.  As  was 
his  custom,  he  scanned  all  tlio  little  side  caflons 
in  the  fascinating  search  for  vestiges  of  ancient 
people  as  he  passed  along  the  brink  of  tlie  preci- 
pices. He  discovered  some  remarkable  ruins  in  a 
locality  which  he  had  never  chanced  to  visit  be- 
fore. Returning  to  the  ranch,  he  met  a  party  of 
hunters,  —  among  whom  was  Mr.  Charles  McLoyd, 
of  Durango,  —  whom  he  succeeded  in  interesting 
in  his  discovery  to  such  an  extent  that  several 
of  them  spent  some  three  months  in  excavating 
among  the  different  ruins.  Besides  the  numerous 
nearly  perfect  specin/jns  of  jars,  bowls,  needles, 
baskets,  cloth,  matting,  etc.,  eighteen  skulls  were 
found,  —  all  articles  of  great  interest  to  the  stu- 
dent of  ethnology  and  archteology. 

Hitherto,  excepting  a  few  relics  found  by  Rich- 
ard Wetherill,  only  broken  pottery  or  inferior  arti- 
cles had  beeli  picked  up  from  cliff-dwellings,  and 
but  one  skull  had  been  discovered,  —  that  found  in 
Chaco  Cafion,  to  which  I  have  already  referred.* 

*  The  title  of  the  catalogue  of  the  collection  reads  as  fol- 
lows :  "  Catalogue  of  Ancient  Aztec  Relics  from  Mancos  Ca&on, 


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158        THE   LAND   OF  THE   CLIFF-DWELLERS. 


■■U 


Not  till  early  winter  did  these  enthusiasts  un- 
dertake systematic  exploration  for  a  second  and 
more  complete  collection.  As  the  months  wore  on, 
it  grew  larger  and  larger,  and  of  incalculable  value 
to  the  student  of  archaeology.  But  it  was  secured 
under  difficulties.  It  took  ten  pack-animals  to  do 
the  winter's  work  ;  yet  they  all  came  out  in  bet- 
ter condition  than  when  the  enterprise  was  begun. 
This  is  surprising  when  we  realize  the  difhculties 
of  transportation.  On  one  trip  the  snow  was  belly- 
deep  to  the  horses  and  mules.  The  corrugated 
jars,  swung  in  sacks,  were  "packed  out"  on  the 
shoulders  of  the  explorers,  —  a  difficult  task,  con- 
sidering the  distance  from  camp,  in  a  branch  of 
Navajo  Canon,  southwest  of  the  "  Cliff-palace," 
and  fortv-five  miles  from  the  ranch. 

Up  to  March  14,  1890,  they  had  examined  in 
all  one  hundred  and  eighty-two  houses,  but  few  of 

La  Plata  Co.,  Southwestern  Colorado,  collected  by  an  Exploring 
Party  consisting  of  Charles  McLoyd,L.  C.  Patrick,  J.  H.  Graham, 
A.  Wetherill,  during  the  winter  of  1888-89."  In  this  list 
A.  Wetherill  represents  his  several  brothers  also. 

In  1890  a  very  large  collection  of  relics  was  obtained  by 
Charles  McLoyd  and  C.  C.  Graham.  These  relics  were  found  on 
the  lower  San  Juan,  principally  in  the  Grand  Gulch  Canon  iu 
Utah.  The  collection  is  now  in  the  possession  of  Rev,  C.  H. 
Green  (Bulletin  of  the  American  Geographical  Society,  vol. 
xxiii.,  Dec.  31,  1891  ;  The  CliflF-Dwellings  of  the  Mesa  Verde, 
by  W.  R.  Birdsall,  M.  D.  This  is  a  very  valuable  and  interest- 
ing account  of  Dr.  Birdsall's  visit  to  the  region  in  1891). 


.1 


'7 


RUIN     IN     NAVAJO    CANON. 


ARCHAEOLOGICAL  NOTES. 


159 


which  yielded  much  in  the  way  of  relics.  They 
visited  one  hundred  and  six  houses  in  Navajo 
Canon  alone,  and  worked  two  hundred  and  fifty 
miles  of  cliff-front  Most  of  the  ruins  in  Navnjo 
Caflon  were  of  large  size,  containing  from  thirty 
to  one  hundred  rooms  each.  Many  ruins  were 
found  in  unsuspected  places;  many  were  worth  a 
visit  just  to  look  at.  One  was  found  which  had  a 
good  spring  in  the  back  part.  Some  appeared  com- 
paratively ne  V  jthers  as  if  they  had  been  long 
occupied;  and  still  others  were  much  dilapidated, 
scarcely  a  vestige  remaining,  except  small  pieces 
of  pottery,  which  age  does  not  seem  to  affect. 
They  commenced  their  excavations  in  the  first 
cliflf-house  in  Mancos  Canon,  —  that  described  in 
the  fifth  chapter,  and  illustrated  in  chapter  xi.* 
They  began  at  a  point  thirty-five  feet  to  the  left 
of  the  figure  seated  on  the  wall  in  this  illustration. 
It  will  be  observed  that  the  ground  does  not  run 
off  very  steep;  yet  there  is  sufficient  slope  for  the 
debris  thrown  over  to  slide  down  the  hill,  and 
thus  easily  to  be  got  out  of  the  way.  Notwith- 
standing the  difficulties  and  disagreeable  nature 
of  the  work,  —  for  the  alkali  dust  is  choking,^  — 


»  Phototype^  "  Sandal  Cliff-house,"  facing  p.  120. 
*  Signs  of  alkali  are  represented  in  some  of  the  illustrations. 
On  that  facing  p.  125  the  vertical  lines  and  the  character  like  a 


■^ 


'■  / 


I 


160        THE  LAND   OF  THE   CLTPF-DWELLERS. 

they  followed  up  the  digging,  and  were  very  suc- 
cessful ;  they  discovered  one  hundred  sandals,  — 
some  in  good  condition,  others  old  and  worn  out, 
—  a  string  of  beads,  a  pitcher  full  of  squash-seeds, 
and  a  jug  with  yucca  strings  passing  through  the 
handles.  This  jug  was  filled  with  corn  well  shelled, 
with  the  exception  of  two  ears.^  They  unenrthed 
a  perfect  skeleton,  with  even  some  of  the  toe-nails 
remaining;  it  had  been  buried  with  care  in  a 
grave  two  and  one  half  feet  wide,  six  feet  long,  and 
twenty  inches  deep.  A  stone  wall  was  upon  one 
side,  and  the  bottom  of  the  grave  was  finished 
with  smooth  clay.  The  body  lay  with  the  head 
to  the  south,  and  face  to  the  west.  It  was 
wrapped  in  feather  cloth,  and  then  laid  in  matting. 
Buried  with  it  was  a  broken  jar,  a  very  small  un- 
burned  cup,  a  piece  of  string  made  from  hair,  and 
one  wooden  needle. 

Next  to  the  wall  mentioned  above  was  found 
the  body  of  an  infant,  which  was  dried  and  well 
preserved  like  a  mummy.  It  was  wrapped  in 
thin  cloth,  over  that  was  feather  cloth,  and  encas- 
ing all  was  willow  matting  tied  securely  with 
yucca  strings. 

figure  5  are  the  result  of  alkaline  efflorescence.  The  same  pheno- 
menon is  noticeable  in  the  cave  in  the  illustration  facing  p.  143. 

1  I  have  in  my  collection  a  corn-cob  with  twelve  kernels  re- 
maining in  it.  There  were  originally  forty -one  kernels  in  one 
row. 


ARCHi^EOLOOICAL  NOTES. 


IGl 


They  fouinl  also  a  piece  of  rope  five  eij,'hths  of 
an  inch  in  diameter,  with  forty-eight  strands, 
bone  needles,  awls,  stone  axes  with  and  without 
handles,  twine,  arrow-points,  a  l)ow-string,  a  large 
jar,  coiled  ware,  and  four  skulls. 

In  one  ruin  were  found  several  skeletons,  which 
showed  by  their  condition  that  the  dwellers  in 
that  house  had  met  with  a  violent  death.  In  a 
room  which  had  but  one  entrance,  and  that  from 
the  top,  four  persons  had  been  killed,  —  probably 
with  stone  axes,  for  their  skulls  were  broken  in. 
They  had  probably  been  surprised,  and  attempted 
to  escape  by  the  chimney.  One  man's  legs  were  in 
the  chimney,  his  trunk  in  the  fireplace,  and  his 
head  and  arms  in  the  room.  Across  one  arm  lay 
the  body  of  a  young  person,  with  head  broken  in 
the  same  way,  and  over  both  was  thrown  a  mat. 

In  one  house  was  exhumed  the  body  of  a 
woman.  To  enter  this  house  they  were  obliged 
to  splice  poles  and  climb  up  much  as  we  did  in 
entering  the  upper  ruin  in  Acowitz  Carion.  The 
appearance  of  this  skeleton  was  somewhat  differ- 
ent from  other  specimens  found ;  one  circumstance 
noted  was  auburn  hair,  though  it  was  turning  to 
gray :  they  also  found  a  large  bunch  of  red  hair. 
In  another  house  the  excavators  found  a  piece  of 

string  in  a  bowL     I  have  examined  this  string 

11 


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162       THE  LAND   OP  THE  CLIFF-DWELLEUS. 

under  a  microscope,  and,  comparing  with  sample 
plates,  find  it  to  be  made  of  cotton.  This  fact 
shows  that  tlie  Cliff-Dwellers  had  intercourse 
with  the  pueblo  tribes  of  New  Mexico  and  Ari- 
zona, where  cotton  was  raised. 

The  excavators  also  found  some  long  wooden 
sword-shaped  sticks,  as  to  tlie  purpose  of  which 
they  were  at  first  in  doubt ;  since,  they  have  de- 
cided that  these  were  used  to  beat  yucca  in  order 
to  separate  the  fibres,  of  which  they  found  quanti- 
ties. Another  discovery  was  a  bowl  of  walnuts, — 
a  nut  which  does  not  grow  in  Colorado.  The  bowl 
was  found  in  a  room  at  a  depth  of  three  feet,  yet 
it  was  on  an  upper  floor  that  had  fallen  in.^ 

Of  over  one  hundred  pieces  of  pottery  found, 

*  Through  Mr.  Cosmos  Mindeleff,  of  the  Bureau  of  Ethnologj', 
Mr.  Fernew,  Chief  of  the  Forestry  Division  of  the  Agricultural 
Department,  has  kindly  given  the  following  information : 
"The  walnut  which  you  left  for  inspection  can  be  hardly  any- 
thing else  than  Juglans  rupestris,  corresponding  with  specimens 
of  the  fruit  on  hand.  The  field  of  distribution  I  have  noted 
on  the  enclosed  map,  as  far  as  known.  You  will  notice  that  it 
remains  below  the  plateau  country." 

According  to  the  map  furnished  by  Mr.  Fernew,  Juglans 
rupestris  is  found  in  southwestern  Texas,  southern  New  Mexico, 
southeastern  Arizona,  and  along  the  coast  of  California,  between 
San  Francisco  and  Los  Angeles,  The  nearest  approach  of  the 
tree  to  Mancos  Cahon  is  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles. 
This  fact  also  leads  one  to  believe  that  the  ClifT-Dwellers  perhaps 
traded  with  the  Indians  of  the  south.  The  walnuts  were  not 
perforated,  so  were  probably  not  used  as  ornaments. 


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AnCHT.OLOGICAL   NOTES. 


163 


IK)  two  arc  alike.  It  was  anticipated  that  many 
duplicates  of  l)owls  and  niu^^'s  would  be  found  ;  l)ut 
all  were  in  din'erent  patterns  of  painted  desij^'ii.' 
The  indented  or  coiled  ware  was  evidently  the 
kind  which  was  most  in  use,  more  so  than  the 
jniinted  vessels.  Some  were  buried  near  tlie  doors, 
with  tlieir  rims  even  with  the  surface  of  the 
f,'round,  and  were  probably  used  to  collect  water. 
Certain  jars  were  blackened  by  soot,  and  were 
probably  used  for  cooking  purposes. 

From  a  study  of  some  of  the  relics  of  pottery 
found,  it  appears  that  the  ClilT-Dwellers  imitated 
certain  features  of  their  architecture  in  the  pro- 
ducts of  the  kiln.  One  specimen,  a  mug,  in  my 
collection  illustrates  this  point :  in  the  handle  a 

*  Of  more  thiiii  a  hundred  fragmonts  of  painted  and  indented 
ware  which  I  picked  up,  all  are  of  different  design.  One  in- 
dented piece  was  painted  on  the  interior  surface.  Tliese  are  not 
common. 

Referring  to  the  San  Juan  district,  Mr.  Holmes  writes : 
"  The  ceramic  remains  are  more  uniform  in  character  and  appar- 
ently more  archaic  in  decoration  than  those  of  any  other  district. 
They  belong  almost  exclusively  to  two  varieties,  the  coiled  ware 
and  the  white  ware  with  black  figures.  .  .  . 

•'  It  is  unfortunate  that  so  few  entire  vessels  of  the  painted 
pottery  have  been  found  in  this  region,  ^i.e  fragments,  how- 
ever, are  very  plentiful,  and  by  proper  sturv  of  these  a  great 
deal  can  be  done  to  restore  the  various  forms  of  vessels  "  (Pot- 
tery of  the  Ancient  Pueblos,  W.  H.  Holmes,  Washington,  1886, 
p.  315).  This  lack  has  now  been  remedied  by  the  finding  of 
many  beautiful  and  complete  specimens  of  painted  ware. 


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164        THE  LAND  OP  THE   CLIFF-DWELLERS. 

hole  has  been  cut  which  copies  the  shape  of  the 
peculiar  doorways  seen  in  this  region. 

One  day  I  was  occupied  photographing  a  ruin 
in  Navajo  Cafton.  My  companions  were  busy 
with  pick  and  spade,  each  intent  on  his  own 
work.  One  called,  "See  this  specimen  of  pot- 
tery; is  n't  it  a  rare  one?"  I  looked,  and  ob- 
served what  he  held  up  to  my  gaze.  It  was  a 
fragment  oi  fired  ware  about  three  inches  square, 
with  numbers  of  fine  lines  above  a  broader  band. 
I  had  found  a  number  of  specimens  of  similar 
kinds ;  but  not  wishing  to  throw  cold  water  on 
my  companion's  enthusiasm,  I  answered,  "Very 
good."  He  lesponded,  "  You  don't  seem  to  think 
much  of  it ;  "  and  he  turned  the  piece  over,  that  I 
might  see  the  other  side,  or  exterior,  of  the  piece 
of  bowl  or  jar,  where  I  observed  a  picture  of  a 
bird  which  we  suppose  was  intended  to  represent 
a  turkey.  The  head  was  gone,  having  been  broken 
off,  and  we  searched  for  the  missing  piece  in  vain 
among  the  debris ;  but,  notwithstanding  ito  in- 
completeness, it  was  a  good  find,  for  such  speci- 
mens are  rare.  I  have  already  called  attention 
to  similar  painting  on  a  wall  in  a  Navajo  Canoh 
cliflf-house,*  and  again  I  have  seen  a  fragment  of 
a  bowl  on  which  was  a  drawing  representing  two 
turkeys  possibly  about  to  commence  a  fight. 
1  See  p.  149,  chapter  xiv. 


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ARCHAEOLOGICAL  NOTES. 


165 


As  for  clothing,  it  is  probable  that  wearing 
apparel  was  scarce.  It  may  have  consisted  of 
feather  or  cotton  blankets,  hair  leggings,  and 
sandals,  strings  of  beads  on  their  arms,  around 
their  necks,  and  over  their  breasts,  with  perhaps 
a  buckskin  cap  upon  their  heads,  adorned  with 
plumes  of  turkey  feathers.  Buckskin  may  have 
been  used  as  material  for  making  blankets  instead 
of  fibrous  stuffs.  Numerous  pieces  were  found, 
but  none  of  sufficient  size  to  givL  a  clear  idea  of 
the  use  to  which  it  was  put. 

It  was  thought  at  one  time  that  certain  articles 
of  fabric  were  made  from  wool ;  but  inspection  with 
a  microscope  has  proved  that  the  material  was 
milk-weed  fibre.  It  is  unlikely  that  sheep  were 
in  the  country,  except  the  native  bighorn,  whose 
horns  are  found  in  the  caiions  and  on  the  plateau. 

In  a  work  of  this  kind  it  would  be  hardly  of 
interest  to  give  a  schedule  of  relics  found,  or  to 
describe  them  in  detail,  —  such  description  would 
only  interest  the  specialist ;  ^  but  a  few  of  the 
more  important  relics  deserve  mention. 


1  I  have  already  referred  to  the  work  of  W.  H.  Holmes, 
"  Pottery  of  the  Ancient  Pueblos."  This  excellent  monograph, 
published  in  the  Fourth  Annual  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  Eth- 
nology, contains  much  information  in  regard  to  the  pottery  of 
the  tribes  wno  once  inhabited  the  valleys  of  the  San  Juan  and 
its  tributaries. 


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166        THE  LAND  OP  THE  CLIFF-DWELLERS. 

Sandals  were  made  from  fibres,  woven,  for  the 
most  part,  in  a  simple  manner  by  crossing  the 
strips.  They  were  fastened  to  the  feet  by  strands 
of  the  same  material.  They  were  made  very  com- 
pact, though  light  shows  through  them.  The 
strands  are  about  three  sixteenths  of  an  inch  in 
width,  and  one  sixteenth  in  thickness.  The  plaits 
are  half  an  inch  wide  and  very  thin.  As  an  ex- 
ception, one  sandal  in  my  collection  is  woven  of 
much  finer  material,  and  looks  like  an  old  cloth 
slipper.  When  it  is  held  to  the  light,  one  cannot 
see  through  it.  It  has  a  neat  pattern  woven  in 
it,  similar  in  design  to  markings  on  pottery. 

The  only  specimen  of  modelling  is  a  small 
image  that  looks  more  like  a  bear  than  anything 
else.  Several  pipes  have  been  found,  and  quanti- 
ties of  stone  axes,  and  a  few  bows  and  arrows. 
With  a  large  skeleton  in  Acowitz  Canon  was 
found  a  bow  which  v/as  four  feet  eight  and 
one  half  inches  long ;  the  string  was  of  sinew. 

The  ClifF-Dwellers  used  hampers  in  which  to 
carry  burdens,  and  straps  to  put  through  the 
handles  of  their  oUas,  or  water-jars.  They  had 
brushes  made  of  fibres. 

Interesting  as  are  the  relics  in  themselves,  it  is 
upon  the  antiquity  of  the  cliff-dwellings  that  one 
is  led  to  speculate  while  among  the  ruins.     It  is 


-, 


ARCHiEOLOr.ICAL  NOTES. 


167 


a  question  difficult  to  decide,  or  to  give  any 
opinion  upon.  Located  in  a  dry  climate,  pro- 
tected from  all  aerial  forces,  I  see  no  reason  why, 
if  unmolested,  the  walls  should  not  stand  a  thou- 
sand years  as  we  now  see  them ,  and,  in  my  judg- 
ment, there  is  no  reason  to  doubt  that  they  have 
stood  a  complete  cycle.^ 

The  valley  ruins  have  gone  a  long  way  farther 
toward  complete  destruction  than  have  the  cliff- 
dwellings.  This  has  led  one  authority  to  suggest 
that  the  cliff-houses  "owe  their  construction  to 
events  that  immediately  preceded  the  expulsion 
of  the  pueblo  tribes  from  this  district."  The 
same  authority  also  states  that  "  the  final  aban- 
donmen  of  the  cliff  and  cave  dwellings  occurred 
at  a  comparatively  recent  date,  —  certainly  sub- 
sequent to  the  Spanish  conquest."  ^     But  allow- 

1  Hayden's  Report,  1876,  W.  H.  Holmes,  p.  386.  Mr. 
Holmes,  in  writing  of  standing  stones  found  on  the  Dolores 
River,  says:  "  That  the  placing  of  these  stones  occurred  at  a 
very  early  date  is  attested  by  the  growth  of  the  forest,  which  is 
at  least  three  or  four  hundred  years  old.  lu  a  number  of  cases 
the  stones  are  deeply  imbedded  in  the  sides  and  roots  of  the 
trees. " 

2  Hayden's  Report,  1876,  W.  H.  Holmes,  p.  408.  This  state- 
ment is  undoubtedly  true  of  cave  and  cliff  dwellings  farther  to 
the  south.  It  is  stated  that  even  some  of  the  Spanish  monks 
dwelt  at  times  in  the  cliflf-lodges.  For  an  account  of  compara- 
tively recently  deserted  pueblos,  see  "Journal  of  American 
Ethnology  and  Archaeology,"  vol.  i.,  "  A  Reconnoissance  of 
Ruins  in  or  near  the  ZuBi  Reservation,"  by  J.  Walter  Fewkes. 


i'A 


I     ». 


I- 


168        THE  LAND   OP  THE  CLIFF-DWELLERS. 

iiig  that  the  cliff-houses  were  deserted  only  three 
hundred  years  ago,  this  would  not  help  us  to 
assign  a  date  for  the  building  of  some  of  the 
larger  structures,  which,  from  what  we  know 
of  the  tools  employed,  must  have  been  the  work 
of  time.  Not  a  scrap  or  piece  of  metal  has 
been  found  in  the  ddbris  which  rest  upon  and 
among  the  tumbled-down  walls.  Many  of  the 
stones  that  we  see,  which  were  employed  in  the 
rearing  of  the  great  edifices,  must  have  been 
laboriously  shaped  by  an  almost  shapeless  stone 
axe.  Such  work,  carried  on  under  so  great  diffi- 
culties, did  not  allow  of  villages  being  constructed 
in  a  day. 

One  fact  which  has  been  investigated  by  that 
eminent  archaeologist,  Mr.  A.  F.  Bandelier,  would 
seem  to  throw  some  light  upon  the  subject :  "  It 
does  not  appear  that  the  Sedentary  Indians  of 
New  Mexico  ever  made,  within  traditional  and 
documentary  times,  any  other  than  the  painted 
pottery  in  greater  or  less  degree  of  perfection."  ^ 
This  would  prove  that  the  specimens  of  indented 
ware  which  we  have  found  cannot  be  less  than 
four  hundred  years  old :  how  old  the  painted 
pottery  is,  we  know  not. 

1  "  Report  on  the  Ruins  of  the  Pueblo  of  Pecos,"  published 
in  the  "Papers  of  the  Archaeological  Institute  of  America," 
p.  105. 


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ARCH/EOLOOICAL  NOTES. 


169 


As  for  the  state  of  civilization  of  the  ancient 
people,  it  could  not  have  been  far  advanced.  A 
community  who  could  huddle  together  in  such 
small,  close,  unventilated  quarters,  who  buried 
theii  dead  under  their  floors  and  under  the  rear 
of  cliffs  and  back  of  their  mightiest  houses,  could 
not  have  reached  a  very  high  ideal  of  refinement. 
Yet  it  may  be  we  judge  too  hastily.  Perchance 
these  remote  fortresses  were  subjected  to  a  long 
siege  by  crafty  Ute  or  fiery  Apache,  wherein 
the  heroic  defenders  stood  out  to  the  last;  and 
as  man  after  man  fell  at  his  post,  his  body  was 
perhaps  hastily  imbedded  in  debris  at  the  rear. 

As  for  the  builders,  who  were  they  ?  Where 
did  they  come  from?  These  are  difficult  ques- 
tions to  answer.  Mr.  Justin  Winsor,  in  the 
"Narrative  and  Critical  History  of  America," 
writes  in  regard  to  the  early  investigators  in 
the  field  of  the  prehistoric  lore  of  America, 
"Few  ...  in  discussing  the  problem xiould  say, 
*  1  have  ventured  to  inquire,'  without  presuming 
to  decide." 

Recognizing  the  pertinency  of  these  words,  and 
realizing  that  the  discussion  of  such  topics  be- 
longs to  those  who  have  made  a  survey  of  the 
whole  broad  field  with  knowledge  of  all  the  facts, 
both  archaeological  and  linguistic,  I  disclaim  all 


170        THE   LAND   OP  THE   CLIFF-DWELLERS. 

desire  to  put  forth  a  tlioory  n.s  to  the  origin  nnd 
disap|H!arance  of  the  Clin'-Dwellers.  If  my  work 
may  chiim  any  merit,  it  will  bo  due  to  the  fact 
that  the  future  antifpiary  may  learn  from  tlie 
reproduction  of  my  photographs,  and  tlieir  de- 
scription, tlie  condition  of  the  Mnncos  ruins  in  the 
years  1889  and  1890  •,  while,  therefore,  I  would 
not  venture  to  theorize  from  the  small  collection 
of  facts  which  we  have  obtained,  I  may  be  i)er- 
mitted  to  call  attention  to  a  few  generally  con- 
ceded facts  of  history.  From  the  seventh  to  the 
twelfth  century,  the  Toltecs  invaded  Mexico  from 
the  north ;  following  them  came  the  Aztecs.  It 
is  possible  that  Colorado  and  New  Mexico  may 
have  been  the  former  dwelling-place  of  these 
migratory  nations;  or  if  they  came  from  the 
northwest,  straggling  bands  may  have  strolled 
into  the  lands  we  are  describing.  Yet  all  con- 
nection between  the  people  of  the  North  and 
those  of  Mexico  had  probably  been  lost  long 
before  1530  a.  d.  It  is  not  even  probable  that 
either  knew  of  the  existence  of  the  other,  though 
a  belief  has  been  current  that  those  people  wor- 
shipped Montezuma.  Again  I  must  quote  Mr, 
Bandelier :  — 

*' What  the  Indians  themselves  say  of  this  tale,  I 
have  not  as  jdt  ascertained  j  but  the  people  of  the  val- 


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■■.'■/' 


ARCH^OLOGICAL  NOTES. 


171 


ley  all  assert  that  the  people  of  the  pueblo  believe  in  it ; 
that  they  even  affirmed  that  Montezuma  was  born  at 
Pecos ;  that  he  wore  golden  shoes,  and  left  for  Mexico, 
where,  for  the  sake  of  these  valuable  brogans,  he  was 
ruthlessly  slauglitered.  They  further  say  that  when 
he  left  Pecos  he  commanded  that  the  holy  fire  should 
be  kept  burning  till  his  return;  in  testimony  wTiereof 
the  sacred  embers  were  kept  aglow  till  1840,  and  the-n 
transferred  to  Jemez. 

"There  is  one  serious  point  in  the  whole  story, 
and  that  is  the  illustration  how  an  evident  mixture 
of  a  name  with  the  Christian  faith  in  a  personal  re- 
deemer, and  dim  recollections  of  Coronado's  presence 
and  promise  to  return,  could  finally  take  the  form  of 
a  mythological  personage.  In  this  respect,  for  the 
study  of  mythology  in  general,  it  is  of  great  impor- 
tance. That  the  sacred  fire  had  originally  nothing 
at  all  to  do  with  the  Montezuma  legend,  is  amply 
proven  by  the  earliest  reports. 

*'It  will  also  become  interesting  to  ascertain  in 
the  future  how  many  pueblos,  and  which,  concede  to 
Pecos  the  honor  of  being  the  birthplace  of  that  famed 
individual,  and  how  many,  as  is  the  case  with  other 
great  folks  in  more  civilized  communities,  claim 
the  same  honor  for  themselves. 

'  *  I  cannot,  therefore,  attach  to  the  Montezuma 
tale  any  historical  importance  whatever,  not  even  a 
traditional  value."  * 

1  Report  on  the  Ruins  of  the  Pueblo  of  Pecos,  p.  112,  in 
"  Papers  of  the  Archaeological  Institute  of  America,"  Boston, 
1883. 


'Ty>ir:^y.rs-:iil:^V'.>^'»!f.'/fm 


172        THE  LAND  OP  THE  CLIFF-DWELLERS. 

It  ig  interesting  to  note  what  Mr.  Bandelier 
writes  in  another  work,  of  a  tradition  met  with 
at  Mitla,  two  hundred  miles  south  of  the  city  of 
Mexico :  — 

**I  found  there  among  the  Indians  the  singular 
tradition  that  the  buildings  of  Sansuanch  —  as  the 
ruins  are  called  east  of  the  Venta  Salada,  at  the  foot 
of  the  Sierra  de  Zongolica  —  had  been  the  former 
home  of  Montezuma,  from  which  he  had  started  to 
conquer  Mexico.  The  parallelism  with  similar  tradi- 
tions among  the  Pueblo  Indians  of  New  Mexico,  far 
to  the  north,  is  indeed  remarkable." 

It  has  been  customary  in  popular  writings  to 
claim  for  the  Cliff-Dwellers  that  they  were  a 
different  stock  even  from  the  Pueblo  Indians; 
some  going  so  far  as  to  state  that  they  were  a 
white  race.  There  is  no  ground  whatever  for 
any  such  conclusion.  As  a  rule,  they  had  black 
hair,  and  were  probably  of  dark  complexion. 
They  were  of  medium  height,  with  skulls  flat- 
tened by  papoose  boards,  and  in  general  with 
little  to  distinguish  them  from  southern  tribes. 
As  regards  their  antiquity,  and  the  length  of 
time  which  they  inhabited  these  canons,  all  is 
shrouded  in  mystery.  But  I  am  inclined  to 
think  that  the  claim  that  I  have  made  a  few 
pages  back,  that  the  ruins  or  buildings  may  have 


ARCHAEOLOGICAL  NOTES. 


173 


stood  for  a  thousand  years,  allows  sufficient  time 
for  the  period  of  building,  occupying,  and  desertion 
of  these  picturesque  dwelling  places.  As  for  the 
identity  of  race,  in  the  absence  of  all  reliable  tes- 
timony I  am  content  to  accept  the  statement  of 
Wi>p,  the  Ute  Indian,  that  they  were  the  fore- 
fathers of  certain  Pueblo  tribes  who  now  occupy 
lands  to  the  south,^  regarding  it  as  the  more  sig- 
nificant because,  being  uttered  in  a  burst  of  indig- 
nation, it  was  doubtless  the  expression  of  a  deeply 
grounded  belief. 

1  See  chapter  i.,  the  Ute  Indians,  p.  117.   .. 


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CHAPTER  XVI. 


THE    MESA    VERDE. 


THE  Mesa  Verde  is  the  name  '  given  to  the 
high  plateau  which  rises  above  the  Mancos 
and  Montezuma  valleys  to  a  height  of  from  fif- 
teen hundred  to  two  thousand  feet.  Roughly 
speaking,  it  is  about  twenty  by  thirty  miles  in 
extent,  and  thus  contains  over  six  hundred  square 
miles. 

The  surrounding  country  to  the  north  and  west 
has  been  eroded,  leaving  this  plateau  standing 
alone.  It  would  seem,  when  observed  from  be- 
low, as  if  the  top  were  nearly  level ;  but  this  is  far 
from  the  fact :  the  surface  is  undulating.  More- 
over, Mancos  Canon  cuts  through  the  entire 
length  of  the  plateau,  and  as  the  side  cafions  head 
near  the  outer  rims,  the  seeming  solid  mass  is  but 
a  shell.  The  work  of  erosion  is  still  going  on,  at 
least  in  winter,  when  volumes  of  water  from  the 

1  This  plateau  was  named  the  "  Mesa  Verde  "  by  Dr.  J.  S. 
NewbeiTy  when  he,  as  geologist,  accompanied  the  exploring 
expedition  of  Capt.  J.  N.  Macomb.  At  that  time  its  sides  were 
covered  with  grass. 


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THE  MESA   VERDE. 


175 


melting  snows  flow  down  the  caflons  and  over  the 
cliffs.  The  capping  is  of  sandstone,  and  the 
greater  part  of  the  plateau  is  built  up  of  layers  of 
this  same  material,  though  this  geological  forma- 
tion is  interlaid  with  strata  of  friable  nature  which 
are  more  easily  eroded,  leaving  the  firmer  rock 
standing  as  sheer  precipitous  walls  The  top  of 
the  Mesa,  except  on  the  highest  points,  is  covered 
with  a  scrubby  forest  of  juniper  and  pinon  trees 
Indian  and  game  trails  lead  through  this  open 
forest  in  every  direction. 

There  are  several  ways  of  ascending  or  descend- 
ing with  pack-mules  and  horses,  —  an  important 
consideration,  as  a  journey  without  pack-animals 
is  out  of  the  question ;  for  blankets  and  provisions 
should  be  taken  for  a  stay  of  several  days.  One 
route  is  to  descend  the  main  cation  of  the  Mancos 
to  a  point  between  Cliff  and  Navajo  Caflons, 
where  a  good  Indian  trail  leads  to  the  plateau. 
It  is  not  so  steep  nor  so  difficult  as  that  leading 
to  the  opposite  mesa.  Another  trail  leads  from 
Mancos  Valley  to  Point  Lookout.  This  is  much 
travelled  by  cattle,  and  the  paths  are  well  worn, 
A  third  leads  from  the  Montezuma  Valley,  and 
was  never  used  except  by  Indians  until  we  passed 
over  it  in  September,  1890.  It  is  not  easy  to  find, 
especially  in  making  the  descent.     Our  party  tried 


vmmimm 


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176        THE    LAND   OP  THE   CLIFF-DWELLERS. 

to  get  down  the  cliffs  in  many  places  before  we 
discovered  the  true  route.  We  wasted  several 
hours,  and  descended  in  vain  to  considerable  dis- 
tances at  difierent  points  of  the  Mesa's  edge,  and 
were  as  often  obliged  to  climb  up  again.  At  last 
we  found  an  encampment  of  Indians,  of  a  party 
which  had  come  from  Ute  Mountain,  and  de- 
scended by  their  trail. 

The  summit  of  the  plateau  is  very  dry,  water 
being  found  in  but  few  places.  Occasionally  it 
remains  in  "  tanks  "  some  time  after  a  rainfall. 
These  "  tanks  "  are  of  special  interest,  from  the  fact 
that  they  were  used  by  the  Cliff-Dwellers.  In 
some  cases  they  were  walled  up  to  increase  their 
capacity,  and,  where  the  sides  were  steep  and  slip- 
pery, steps  were  cut  in  the  rock  to  enable  the  car- 
riers to  descend  and  bail  out  the  water.  Similar 
natural  cisterns  are  also  found  in  dry  streams  in 
the  bed  of  the  cafions.  Once  we  searched  long 
for  such  a  place,  riding  till  late  in  the  night  over 
an  almost  impassable  trail ;  and  we  should  have 
been  obliged  to  camp  without  water  if  we  had  not 
discovered  some  cattle  belonging  to  the  Utes, 
which  gave  us  the  clew,  following  which  we  came 
to  a  tank. 

On  the  Mesa,  near  the  brink  of  Clifif  Cafion,  not 
far  from  the  great  ruin,  is  such  a  tank;  but  while 


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THE  MESA   VERDE. 


177 


camping  there  we  gave  it  up  to  our  animals,  as 
there  is  a  good  spring  in  a  sliort  box-caflon  near 
at  hand,  from  which  we  could  conveniently  draw 
up  the  water  over  the  cliff  with  la<i8os. 

On  another  occasion  we  suffered  from  extreme 
thirst.  Our  canteens  were  empty,  and  we  searched 
in  vain  for  tanks  on  the  Mesa.  We  separated, 
and  followed  the  brink  of  cailons,  looking  below 
for  pools.  Search  for  ruins  was  given  up;  we 
were  engrossed  with  our  search  for  water.  Fin- 
ally one  sighted  it  in  a  pool  below,  and  answer- 
ing his  call,  we  gathered  on  the  edge  of  the  caflon. 
There,  down  in  the  depths,  was  a  little  round, 
yellow,  dirty-looking  puddle.  Tt  did  not  look  in- 
viting, but  we  knew  it  was  good,  for  it  was  rain- 
water, and  there  were  no  signs  of  alkaline  incrus- 
tations near  it.  We  descended  at  break-neck  speed, 
and  spent  an  hour  by  its  side. 

It  is  difficult  to  find  places  of  descent  for  horses 
and  mules  into  the  tributary  cafions.  The  walls, 
except  near  the  western  rim  of  the  plateau,  are 
very  abrupt,  and  when  one  rides  along  the  Mesa, 
he  frequently  finds  that  he  has  arrived  at  a  jump- 
ing-off  place,  for  he  is  between  two  of  the 
branches.  The  easiest  places  of  descent  are  by 
the  main  canons. 

The  Navajos  have  kept  sheep  and  horses  on  the 

12 


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I    I 


178        TUE  LAND  OP  THE  CUFF-DWELLERH, 

Mesa,  using  for  a  corral  the  area  between  two  box- 
caflons,  which  is  cut  off  from  the  main  phiteau  by 
a  fence  of  juniper-trees. 

There  are  many  ruins  on  the  Mesa,  but  they  are 
so  dilapidated  that  it  is  impossible  to  form  an  idea 
of  their  construction.  A  tower  is  yet  standing 
between  the  forks  of  Navajo  Caflon  and  another 
on  the  brink  of  one  of  the  tributaries.  This  lat- 
ter is  a  very  picturesque  sight  when  observed 
from  the  ravine  below ;  it  commands  a  good  view, 
and  may  have  been  used  as  a  place  of  lookout. 
The  places  of  burial  were  near  the  houses,  and 
here  it  is  that  we  find  such  an  abundancp  of 
broken  pottery,  while  a  most  fascinating  variation 
is  the  search  fo»*  arrow-heads.  I  found  a  number 
of  very  pretty  specimens  in  an  hour's  time  spent 
among  some  of  these  mounds.  Similar  ruins  are 
found  at  the  base  of  the  Mesa,  among  the  sand- 
hills of  the  northern  side. 

Let  me  finally  describe  one  of  our  journeys 
across  the  Mesa.  Our  camp  was  on  the  brink  of 
Cliff  CaRon.  We  reached  it  long  after  dark  ;  and 
after  the  usual  hard  riding  after  stray  horses,  we 
got  everything  to  rights,  and  whiled  away  the 
evening  hours  by  a  huge  fire.  Such  a  blaze  as 
juniper  and  pifion  pines  make  !  —  a  fire  easy  to 
build,  and  of  lasting  brilliancy. 


\ 


THE  MESA    VERDE. 


179 


The  next  inoniinj^  dawned  warm  and  bright, 
with  a  pleasant  light  breeze.  We  were  up  at 
sunriao,  and  oH'  at  eight  o'cloclc,  delaying  only  to 
photograph  the  camp  and  pack-animals.  Our  route 
lay  to  the  north,  along  the  mesa  summit,  and  be- 
tween Cliff  and  Navajo  Caflons,  which  here  run 
nearly  parallel  with  the  main  one.  We  passed 
near  the  ends  of  many  tributaries  of  these  gorges, 
which  showed  that  while  it  was  a  comparatively 
easy  matter  to  get  out  of  this  country  to  the 
north,  to  come  back  to  any  given  point  from  that 
direction  would  be  impossible  to  any  one  not  fa- 
miliar with  all  the  arms  of  the  different  caflons. 
Reversing  the  case  of  a  mouse  and  a  wire  trap, 
it  is  easy  enough  to  get  out,  but  ditficult  to  get  in. 

We  observed  no  traces  of  ancient  roads  on  the 
Mesa,  nor  of  irrigating  ditches;  but  we  passed 
the  ruins  of  what  appears  to  have  been  a  large 
reservoir. 

At  about  ten  o'clock  we  were  at  the  heads  of 
Navajo  and  Cliff  Caflons ;  and  soon  we  were  so 
near  the  west  end  of  the  Mesa  that  we  caught  a 
glimpse  of  the  broad  Montezuma  Valley.  All  the 
morning  we  followed  trails  leading  through  the 
extensive  chaparral  of  juniper  and  piflon  trees. 
The  pifions  were  loaded  with  nuts,  which  are  good 
eating.    The  Indians  make  flour  from  them,  and 


1 


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180 


THE  LAND   OP  THE   CLIFF-DWELLERS. 


subsist  on  it  in  certain  seasons.  Flying  about 
were  many  pinon  birds.  The  trails  were  made  by 
Indians,  deer,  or  cattle.  We  caught  sight  of  three 
deer  in  the  morning,  and  our  dog  brought  a  wild 
steer  to  bay,  which  threatened  at  one  time  to  run 
us  down. 

About  noon  we  reached  the  summit  of  the  Mesa, 
at  a  point  about  an  hour  south  of  the  promontory 
which  marks  the  entrance  to  Mancos  Canon.  A 
most  remarkable  view  was  unfolded.  Over  the 
pastoral  scenes  of  the  valley  of  Mancos,  beyond 
the  deep  c  ;iions  of  the  Dolores  River,  far  away  in 
the  north,  loomed  the  snowy  crests  of  the  San 
Juan  Mountains :  Lone  Cone,  and  the  San  Miguel 
on  the  left,  then  the  Ouray  group,  with  the  grand 
peaks  which  we  had  climbed,  flanked  on  the  south 
by  the  mountains  of  Silverton  and  the  Needles  of 
the  Rio  de  las  Animas.  Far  away  in  the  east  rose 
range  upon  range  which  we  could  not  identify 
with  certainty.  In  the  west  were  the  Blue  Moun- 
tains of  Utah,  Sierra  Abajo,  and  Sierra  la  Sal.  To 
the  south  and  southwest  stretched  the  great  sys- 
tem of  labyrinthine  cafions,  and  far  beyond  were 
the  Carisso  Mountains  of  New  Mexico.  Here, 
within  sight  of  our  valley,  and  within  a  few 
hours'  ride  of  it,  we  were  able  to  while  away  the 
midday  hours,  and  —  as  perhaps  the  former  in- 


LO 


TOWER     IN     CLIFFPALACE. 


THE  MESA   VERDE. 


181 


habitants  of  this  strange  land  may  have  done  at 
this  same  outlook  —  watch  the  panorama. 

Resting  on  this  summit,  it  was  interesting  to 
recall  many  incidents  of  our  trip,  and  discuss  the 
antiquities  visited. 

Looking  over  the  wide  stretch  of  country,  we 
recalled  the  fact  that  to  the  early  explorers  this 
land  seemed  a  desert.  And  well  indeed  it  might. 
Over  the  wide  arid  plains  stretch  miles  of  waste 
acres  covered  with  sage-brush  and  grease-wood. 
Yet  all  along  the  tops  of  the  great  Mesa  over 
which  we  had  been  riding,  pottery  is  strewn  and 
signs  of  a  primitive  race  are  found.  Its  numbers 
must  have  been  large,  or  the  period  of  their  stay 
prolonged. 

It  has  been  inferred  by  some  writers  that  there 
must  formerly  have  been  a  greater  annual  rainfall, 
in  order  that  such  a  population  could  have  been 
supported  by  agricultural  employment ;  but  judg- 
ing from  so  much  evidence  that  we  found  in  the 
way  of  tanks  and  fragments  of  large  water-jars, 
it  would  appear  that  the  country  was  lacking  in 
water  even  when  occupied  by  the  Cliff-Dwellers. 
And  the  hypothesis  of  a  change  of  climate  there- 
fore becomes  unnecessary.  That  the  vanished 
race  could  have  gained  subsistence  by  tillage  of 
the  soil,  seems  evidenced  by  what  the  farmers  of 


\v 


I  ■''. 


I   ■  ' 


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182        THE  LAND   OP  THE   CLIFF-DWELLERS.     .•        n 

Mancos  and  Montezuma  Valleys  are  doing.  This 
success  shows  what  the  lowlands,  at  least,  are 
capable  of  producing,  with  irrigation.  We  find, 
however,  no  vestiges  of  ditches  on  the  Mesa,  and 
there  is  not  much  water  to  turn  into  such  chan- 
nels, if  they  did  exist.  Yet,  on  the  tableland  on 
which  thrive  such  forests  of  juniper  and  pifion, 
enough  grass  grows  to  support  much  game  and 
many  cattle ;  and  the  time  may  come  when  the 
land,  grasped  by  the  oncoming  mightier  race,  will 
be  overtu. :  iind  tilled,  and  all  along  the  broad 
tablelands  au*  in  many  of  the  fertile  cafion  beds 
we  shall  see  the  tasselled  maize  bend,  and  fields 
of  wheat  wave  to  the  breeze.  Then  it  will  no 
longer  seem  incredible  when  we  read  that  the 
country  once  supported  a  great  population,  a 
people  well  advanced  in  many  arts,  and  who  con- 
ceived of  certain  forms  of  beauty,  even  though 
they  lacked  the  ability  to  reproduce  them  in  ar- 
tistic shapes.  And  may  we  not  imagine  them  a 
race  who  loved  peace  rather  than  war,  but  who, 
hard  pressed  by  a  savage  foe,  fought  stubbornly 
and  long,  and  died  rather  than  desert  their  ro- 
mantic fortresses  among  the  cafion  clififs  ? 


INDEX. 


Abiquitt,  66,  99. 
Abiquiu  Peak,  69. 
Acoma,  21,  27,  53,  54. 
Acowitz  Canon,  127. 
Acowitz-Ute  Indian,  119. 
Alamo  Ranch,  100,  109. 
Alencaster,  Governor,  36. 
Alkali,  121,  159. 
Amazons,  legends  of,  17. 
Amulets,  62. 

Animas  Calion,  70,  72,  96. 
Animas  River,  69,  71,  72,  96. 
Animas  Valley,   ruins  in,  75, 

100. 
Antelope  Park,  70. 
Apache  Indians,  22,  30,  31,  48. 
Arellanno,  23. 
Arizona,  11. 
Arkansas  River,  32,  37. 
Arrow-heads,  178. 
Arrows,  poisoned,  47. 
Avalanches,  80. 
Axes,  stone,  166. 
Aztecs,  170. 
Aztec  Springs,  103. 

Badgers,  89. 

Baker,  John,  71,  72,  note,  etc. 
Baker's  Park,  72. 
Bandelier,  A.  F.,  168,  170. 
Basket  making,  50. 


Bear  Mountain,  74. 
Bent's  Fort,  41. 
Bickford,  F.  T.,  143,  note. 
Bighorn,  165. 
Blankets,  165. 
Blanket  weaving,  50. 
Blue  Mountains,  180. 
Bonilla,  25. 

Bowlder  Mountain,  74. 
Bows  and  arrows,  166. 
Box  Canon,  125. 
Bronchos,  86,  101. 
Brushes,  166. 
Buckskin,  165. 
Buffalo,  23,  49. 
Bureau  Ethnology,  45. 
Burial  Mounds,  121,  178. 

Cabeza  de  Vaca,  18. 
Cabrillo,  23. 
Cachupin,  65. 
Camps,  123,  178. 
Capazone,  109. 
Capotes,  109. 
Cardenas,  21. 
Carisso  Mountains,  180. 
Carson,  Kit,  41. 
Carson,  William,  41,  note. 
Casa  Grande,  53. 
Castaneda,  57. 
Caves,  145,  note. 


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184 


INDEX. 


Cazorla,  25. 

Chaco  Canon,  67,  157. 

Chaina  Kiver,  69. 

C'iiamuscadu,  24. 

Chihuahua,  37,  48. 

Chimneys,  143,  147. 

Cibola,  20,  21,  25,  54,  57. 

Cicuye,  21. 

Clans,  62. 

Cliff-dwellings,  age  of,  150, 167, 

170,  172. 
Cliff  Canon,  139. 
Cliff-palace,  139,  142. 
Clothing,  165. 
Coal,  124,  147. 
Coiled  Ware,  161,  163. 
Colombo,  18. 
Colorado,  11. 

Colorado  River,  13,  21,  97. 
Columbia  River,  34. 
Comanche  Indians,  31,  37,  50, 

note. 
Continental  Divide,  71. 
Cook's  Teak,  29. 
Corn,  Indian,  143,  160, 
Coronado,  18, 19,20,22,23,171. 
Coronado's  Route,  map,  12. 
Cortez,  17,  27. 
Cosinos  Indians,  50. 
Cotton,  162. 
Cotton  wood-trees,  101. 
Council  Grove,  40. 
Crestone  Peak,  42. 
Crevasse  in  rock,  136. 

Dallas  River,  90. 

Deer,  102. 

Defensive  works,  68. 

Denver  &  Rio  Grande  R.  R ,  97, 

107. 
Diaz  Melchior,  21. 


Digger  Indians,  50. 

Dolores  Teak,  93 

Dolores  River,  69,  71,96,104, 

180. 
Doors  and  doorways,  132, 149, 
Dorantes,  19 
Durango,  96,  97,  98,  99,  100, 

108. 
Du  Tis.senet,  32. 

El  Paso.  39. 

El  Turco,  22. 

Endlich,  Dr.  F.  M.,  29,  79. 

Erosion,  174. 

Espejo,  25. 

Kstevan,  19,  20. 

Estufas,  31,  59,  61,  142. 

Eusebio,  31. 

Fewkes,  J.  Walter,  142,  note. 
Fireplaces,  142,  147,  150. 
Flute,  122. 
Fortification,  129. 
Fort  Lewis,  98. 
Fossil  shells,  136. 
Fray  Marcos,  19,  20. 
Fray  Honoratus,  19. 
French  Invasion,  31,  32. 
Front  Range,  35. 

Galena  Mountain,  74. 
Gila  River,  53. 
Gilpin  Ranch,  42. 
Glacial  scorings,  81. 
Grants,  Mexican  land,  42. 
Gunnison  River,  78. 
Guzman,  18. 

Hampers,  166. 

Hayden's  Survey,  29,  73,  75. 

Hesperis  Peak,  93,  95,  99. 


■^^ 


V-V 


INDEX. 


185 


104, 
149. 
100, 


lote. 


Historical  Society  of  roloradOi 

157. 
Holmes,  W.  H.,  103,  104,  120, 

142,  note,  163,  note. 
Hovenweep  River,  104. 
Uualapais  Indians,  50. 
Humana,  25. 

lONACIO,  108. 

Indian  trails,  106,  121,  127. 
Indian  wars,  108,  109. 
Indians,    photographing,    111, 

116. 
Irrigation,  52,  59, 101, 144,  182. 
Isleta,  57. 
Iturbide,  43. 

Jackson,  \V.  H  ,  104, 120, 123, 

note. 
Jemez,  57,  171. 
Juglans  rupestris,  162,  note. 
Juniper-trees,  175,  179. 

Kansas,  40. 

Kansas  Indians,  36. 
Kearney,  General,  43. 
Kilns,  104. 
King  Solomon,  Mount,  74. 

Labyrinth  Canon,  69. 

Laguna,  57. 

Lain,  Don  Joaquim,  66. 

La  Lande,  35. 

La  Plata    Mountains,   70,   93, 

95,  97,  98. 
Largo,  CaBon,  68. 
La  Ve'rendrye,  35. 
Lewis  and  Clarke,  34,  38. 
Lintel,  149. 

Lizzard  Peak,  93,  93,  note. 
Lone  Cone,  93, 180. 


Los  Caflones,  69. 

Los  Pii\08,  110. 

Luis  Maria  Baca  Grant,  42. 

Luramis,  C.  F.,  45,  note. 

Mackenzie,  34. 

Macomb,  Captain,  67. 

Maldouado,  19.  ; 

Mancos,  97,  99. 

Mancos  Cafion,  14,  76,  120, 174. 

MancosRiver,  71,96,  97,  121. 

Mariana,  Indian  Chief,  109. 

Maricopa  Indians,  48. 

McElmo  Cafion,  104 

McLoyd,.Charle8, 157, 158,  note. 

Melgares,  37,  38. 

Mendoza,  18. 

Mesa  Verde,  14,  105,  174. 

Mescal,  49. 

Metals,  absence  of,  168. 

Mexican  independence,  43. 

Mexican  people,  43. 

Mining,  28,  30. 

Missions,  30,  31.  ^^ 

Mojave  Indians,  49,  50. 

Montezuma,  27,  56,  170. 

Montezuma  Cation,  104. 

Montezuma  Valley,   103,  174, 

175,  179,  182. 
Montrose,  78. 
Moqui  Indians,  21,  25,  54,  59, 

62,67,  117.  ; 

Moraines,  84,  89. 
Mortar,  122,  148. 
Mortar,  stone,  144. 
Moss,  John,  99. 
Mount  Kendall,  74. 
Mount  Snaefell,  70,  78,  83. 
Mount  Snaefell,  ascent  of,  89-95. 
Mount  Wilson,  93. 
Muaches,  109. 


'»'i'MidAmmiiiil'Mli^iiU,'mmi'utti«Aimii,im,j«i., »  . 


-  f  > 
1 

•    f 


MA 


186 


INDEX. 


Narvaez,  19. 

Navajo  CaRon,  146, 159 

Navajo  IndiaiiH,  49,  50,  note. 

Navajo  sheep,  102. 

Needle  Mountains,  70,  72,  93, 

180. 
Needles,  wooden,  160. 
Neives,  66. 

Nevava,  Indian  Chief,  108. 
Newberry,  Dr.  J.  S.,  67,   174, 

note. 
New  Mexico,  11,  20,  23,  27,  65, 

66. 
New  Spain,  23. 

Ollas,  166. 

Oma-a,  cloud  god,  63.  >  1  i , 

Onate,  26,  27,  28,  65.  /'/ 

Opates,  47. 

Ouray,  Indian  Chief,  108 

Ouray,  town,  29,  78,  79,  84,  85. 

Painting  on  walls,  122,  143, 

149,  164. 
Parrott  City,  99. 
Pawnee  Indians,  20,  37. 
Pecos,  49,  54,  57. 
Peonage,  33. 
Piers,  stone,  148. 
Pike,  Lieutenant,   16,  24,  37, 

38. 
Pike's  Peak,  38. 
Pima  Indians,  51. 
Pifion-trees,  175,  179. 
Pipes,  166. 
Plaster,  148, 149. 
Platte  River,  35. 
Point  Lookout,  98,  175. 
Pope,  31. 

Porter's  Camp,  85,  89. 
Potosi  Peak,  80. 


Pottery,  50,  59,  61,  134,  144> 

147,  178. 
Pottery  kilns,  104. 
Pottery,  painted,  162,  163,  164. 
Prayer  p1ume.<«,  63. 
Pueblo  flans,  62. 
Pueblo,  Colorado,  city  of,  42. 
Pueblo  district,  size  of,  53. 
Pueblo  language,  57. 
Pueblo  stock-raising,  59. 
Pueblo  structures,  56,  61. 
Pueblos,  ancient,  75,  note. 
Pueblos,  clothing.  57 
Pueblos,  crops,  59,  61. 
Pueblos,  land,  59,  61. 
Pueblos,  origin  of,  64. 
Pueblos,  religion,  59,  63. 
Pueblos,  revolt  of,  30. 
Purseley,  James,  36,  37. 

QUERECHOS,  22. 
Queres,  .53. 
Quivira,  20,  22,  23. 

Ravens,  130. 

Red  River,  37. 

Relics,  135,  157,  163,  166.  - 

Reservoir,  179. 

Rio  Colorado,  97. 

Rio  Grande,  22,  39. 

Rio  Grande  Pyramid,  74. 

Rivera,  Juan  Maria,  66.  ' 

Rocky  Mountains,  23,  31,  38. 

"Roundup,"  101. 

Ruins  in  valleys,  103. 

Sage  brush,  101. 
Sanchez,  26. 
Sandals,  123,  160,  165. 
Sangre  de  Cristo  Mountains, 
41,  42. 


INDEX. 


187 


San  Juan  minerals,  65, 72,  note, 

73. 
San  Juan  minea,  81,  83,  85. 
San  Juan  Mountains,  65,  70. 
San  Juan  River,  66,  68,  71,  97 
San  Luis  Park,  156. 
San  Miguel  Mountains,  70,  93, 

180. 
San  Miguel  River,  71. 
Santa  Ki-,  28,  note,  43. 
Santa  Fe  Trade,  39. 
Santa  ¥6  Trail,  16. 
Sauto  Domiugo,  57. 
St.  Vrain,  41. 
Selkirk  Mountains,  34. 
Seris  Indians,  47. 
Sheep,  144,  note,  165,  177. 
Sheep,  Mountain,  165. 
Sheep,  Navajo,  101. 
Sierra  Abajo,  180. 
Sierra  Blanca,  78,  156. 
Sierra  el  Late,  107,  128. 
Sierra  la  Plata,  50. 
Sierra  la  Sal,  180. 
Sierra  Mimbres,  70. 
Sills  and  beams  149. 
Silversmiths,  50,  note. 
Silverton,  70,  74,  97. 
Simpson,  Lieutenant,  67. 
Sioux  Indians,  36. 
Skeletons,  160,  161. 
Skulls,  144,  157. 
Snake  Dauce,  Moqui,  62. 
Sonora,  31,  63. 
Sopete,  22. 
South  Pass,  35. 
Spanish  exploration,  17. 
Spanish  trail,  99. 
Stock-raising,  101. 
Stone  Steps,  129,  140,  152. 
Stony  Mountains,  24. 


Stony  Peak,  80. 
Sultan  Peak,  74. 
Superstition  of  L^tes,  131. 
Surouaro,  68  and  note. 

Tahayo,  Ute  Indian,  113. 

Tanks,  129,  176. 

Taos,  53,  54,  55. 

Tehua,  .W. 

Tejos,  18,20. 

Telluride,  70. 

Tephuauas,  47. 

Teyas  Indians,  22. 

Tierra  Amarilla,  71. 

Tiguas,  21,  53. 

Timbers,  148. 

Tizon,  Rio  del,  21. 

Tobar,  Pedro  de,  21. 

Tobosos,  Indians,  48.  * 

Toltecs,  170. 

Tools.  135,  1.54. 

Towers,  125,  142,  178. 

Trails,  Indian,  106,  121,  127. 

Treasury  Hill,  82,  89.    ; 

Turkeys,  144,  149,  164. 

Tusayan  (Moqui),  21. 

UiNTAHS,  Ute  Indians,  108. 
Uncompahgre  Indians,  108. 
Uneompahgre    Mountain,    70, 

78. 
Uncompahgre  River,  71. 
Utah,  1. 

Ute  Canon,  146. 
Ute  Indians,  50,  73,  105,  107, 

131. 
Ute  Mountain,  176. 
Ute  Peak,  98. 

Valverde,  31. 
Vargas,  Diego  de,  31. 


( I 


i 


r  1 


^i 


188  INDEX. 


Vera  Cruz,  39. 
Vizcaya,  25. 


Wap,  Ute  Indian,  117,  173. 
Water  jura,  113,  114,  164. 
Webber  Cafion,  120,  121. 
Weeminuches,  107,  109. 
Wetherill's  Ranch,  100. 
Wetherill,  Richard,  157. 
"Wickyups,"  Indian,  112,  113. 
Wind  River  Muuutains,  35. 


Winsor,  Justin,  169. 
Witchcraft,  62. 

Xade,  22. 

Yellow  Jacket  Cafion,  104. 
Yellow  Stone  River,  35. 
Yuma  Indians,  49,  50. 
Yutahs,  31,50,  107. 

ZuSi,  25,  53,  54. 
Zuni  Indians,  67. 


n 

.7 


'r 


104. 


